And what if the bicitaxi were synonymous with progress?

In Barcelona, so far this year, pedicabs – vehicles intended for passenger transport, human-powered and with a capacity for two passengers and the driver – have already accumulated almost 2,000 complaints. Most of them are because they park wherever they please and because they circulate as if the city were a free-for-all, that is, outside the authorized routes. Just this past Saturday, the Urban Guard filed 85 complaints against these Personal Mobility Vehicles or PMVs – a category they share with electric scooters – as part of a control operation deployed on the seafront.

Since June, coinciding with the arrival of good weather and tourists, the city council has intensified control of pedicabs, a type of vehicle increasingly abundant in the city's most touristy areas: Ciutat Vella, Barceloneta, Sagrada Família... Jaume Collboni, first deputy mayor, announced at the beginning of the tourist season that Barcelona would prioritize the elimination of illegal pedicabs and would ensure that they circulate properly on the city's streets. In the same appearance, Albert Batlle, deputy mayor for Prevention, went a little further by stating emphatically: "We don't like pedicabs."

According to the press, Batlle added that pedicabs "do not fit into either the city model or the tourist model we want." About Collboni's words, nothing to say. I wonder, however, if when Batlle declared war on pedicabs without nuances, he did so on behalf of the consistory or only on his own. Basically, because it may seem that this squarely anti-pedicab stance contradicts the determined commitment made by Ada Colau's team in favor of bicycles: promotion of bicing, creation of bike lanes left and right...

I wonder if when Batlle declared war on pedicabs without nuances, he did so on behalf of the consistory or only on his own. Basically, because it may seem that this squarely anti-pedicab stance contradicts the determined commitment made by Ada Colau's team in favor of bicycles

It may be that when Batlle says that pedicabs don't fit here, he has in mind the chaotic streets of large Asian cities like Mumbai or Bangkok where friendly rickshawsquite kitsch –there they call bicycle taxis that– or tuk-tuks, its motorized version, carry thousands of people up and down at any time of day or night, amidst infernal traffic.

Therefore, I can understand that a priori Batlle, and many good Barcelonians like him, frown upon the proliferation of pedicabs in Barcelona. It would be advisable, however, not to lose sight of the fact that cities like Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, or New York are precisely opting for this alternative and ecological transport system, and that it is increasingly common to see pedicabs adapted to new times with futuristic designs and equipped with electric motors on their streets.

It would be advisable not to lose sight of the fact that advanced cities like Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam or New York are precisely opting for this alternative and ecological transport system, and that it is increasingly common to see pedicabs adapted to new times with futuristic designs and equipped with electric motors on their streets

What do I mean by all this? Well, perhaps the pedicab does not have to be a phenomenon to be eradicated from our streets, nor does it necessarily have to be associated with trickery, lack of control, precariousness... To put it plainly, with shabbiness. On the contrary, these light vehicles could be a good alternative not only to the tourist bus but also to the taxi and the small delivery van. What if the pedicab, well managed, were synonymous with progress?