Your story of trying to make money pedicabbing during the transit strike is touching. We all had the same trouble. Yellow cabs were allowed to take up to four unrelated people for $10 each through hastily-set-up zones. Someone going from W 43rd to E 71st would pay just $10, and I couldn’t charge less than $25 for a ride like that.
Pedicab drivers’ only real advantage was that we were far faster in crosstown traffic. (Where motorists see traffic jams, I see opportunities. In fact, I guarantee in writing that I’ll pass cars in crosstown rush-hour traffic.)

I think I lost about 40%, each of the three days of the strike.
What’s worse, commuting from my Flatbush home took an extra hour each way per day, and by the Friday after the strike, I was too beat to work, so there went more money.
And on top of that… Tourists cancelled on NYC the following week (I’m a sightseeing guide as well), meaning our ridership was down.

So December was overall a really bad month for work, and it’s usually our best. Most of us usually don’t have to work in January. Many others and I will be doing so, out in the cold. We just didn’t make enough to tide us over for the winter.
Perhaps, as you became a pedicab driver for a day, I should become a journalist for a day, and see how I do.
Stan O’Connor
Secretary, NYC Pedicab Driver Association (NYCPDA)