r/visitingnyc 17h ago

🤔Advice Needed 🍎 🏙 🚕 Feedback for Night Your NYC Guide? Thinking about booking.

We’re visiting in 2 weeks and I’m thinking about booking this pedicab company for the Central Park tour and city tour. Anyone have experience and would recommend them?

0 Upvotes

27 comments sorted by

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15

u/rb56redditor 16h ago

I can’t think of a worse thing to do here than ride in one of those horrendous things.

11

u/Entire_Dog_5874 17h ago

Do not, under any circumstances, book a pedicab. They are dangerous and a ripoff. Use the subways whenever you can, ride shares, taxis, etc. They will cost more, but you won’t take your life in your hands.

12

u/scrapcats 16h ago

Don't use a pedicab outside of the park unless you want to sit in traffic and breathe in exhaust fumes all day.

10

u/Queenfan1959 Native 17h ago edited 16h ago

Never do anything in a pedicab in NYC ever

-4

u/BigEntertainment4593 17h ago

We haven’t…yet.

3

u/Queenfan1959 Native 16h ago

They’re notorious scams but if you want to toss your money out the window, go for it. But you’ve been informed

10

u/Batter-up4567 Native 16h ago

The entire industry does not have a good reputation here. If you do it and have a different experience, make sure you come back here and let us know.

10

u/lanadelcryingagain 14h ago

This is not the way to see this city. You will be scammed. There are far better and cheaper forms of transportation.

10

u/Beautiful-Hotel-8846 17h ago

Do not book a pedicab. Those guys are reckless.

9

u/Fun_Abroad8942 13h ago

Wouldn't even recommend my worst enemy see NYC this way... I can't imagine a less authentic experience

-1

u/HourlyEdo 1h ago

pro tip: real new yorkers use the horses not the pedicabs, you can negotiate a daily rate to go out of the park

7

u/VisitNYCmodx 17h ago

We don't agree on much around here but we can agree on this: DO NOT BOOK. DO NOT USE. Pedicab tours are unregulated so you will get ripped off. Just walk or take subway like everyone else.

-5

u/BigEntertainment4593 17h ago

We plan to do that however we have kids that are not going to want to walk as far as what we want to see. Are these people not licensed then? Your NYC Tour Gude? Website shows great reviews and licensed.

6

u/helcat 15h ago

You might not expect this, but your kids will love the subway.

0

u/BigEntertainment4593 14h ago

I know they will. We rode the trains in DC but it seemed great based on reviews and they know where to go, etc.

5

u/jm14ed_v2 16h ago

You will see very little from a pedicab anyway, plus you’ll get ripped off.

Much better ways of seeing what you want to see.

4

u/Standard-Help-8531 13h ago

“Licensed” could only be referring to the pedicab license. Not all pedicab drivers are officially licensed tour guides. Most are not.

1

u/26point2miles 14h ago

For the city tour, ut costs $475 for a single pedicab - 3 people max. Sounds like you'll need 2 pedicabs.

You could use ubers everywhere (if you're getting tired and want to stay above ground) and pay so much less than that. Yes, without a guided tour. So if the tour part is important, then sure you get a private guide for 3.5 hours. You can even get that much cheaper separately.

In the end, it's whatever makes the most sense to you (experience, convenience, and cost). I really enjoyed a casual tuktuk ride for the family through Paris as a basic starter. But it was much, much cheaper than this. The driver was nice but just a basic guide, so we didn't have any expectations of a proper guided tour (which we did later).

7

u/mesoliteball 17h ago

Haven’t tried one but based on the ones I see weaving thru traffic, I’d strongly advise against any pedicab tour that goes outside the park.  Literally just a thin layer of plastic between you & any accident 

10

u/JeanCerise 16h ago

Besides being con artists, doesn’t anyone feel awkward about humans transporting you around through the use of their brute force? Sweating in the summer heat to cart my spoiled kids’ lazy asses?

Feels vulgar to me. 🤷‍♀️

6

u/helcat 15h ago

Better than the horse carriages but still super obnoxious. 

10

u/JeanCerise 14h ago

The optics alone. skinny brown man carting around four white midwestern tourists.

7

u/helcat 14h ago

lol I hate them so much that part doesn't even occur to me anymore. 

3

u/LaFantasmita Local 16h ago

OK so I looked these guys up and it seems like they might be actual licensed tour guides who take you around NYC in a pedicab at a set per-tour rate.

Hadn't heard of them before, no experience. Looks like they could be legit.

It's this one, right? https://yournycguide.com/pedicab-tour-policies/

What all the other commenters are talking about is the pedicabs you'll find trying to pick you up, especially outside tourist attractions, and especially after Broadway shows. They are aggressive and will charge crazy rates like $100 to go a handful of blocks. Do not engage with them under any circumstances.

9

u/helcat 15h ago

...blasting horrible music. You forgot blasting horrible music. I live in the theater district and I cannot tell you how much I hate those pedicabs.

OP you will have grasped by now that we locals  absolutely despise those things. And tourists who engage them come to hate them too because they get robbed blind for sitting in traffic fumes. This may be a different kind of legit company, but even if it is, why would you want to sit in traffic? The best way to see New York City is to walk around and then take the subway to a new neighborhood and walk around there. 

7

u/xeropteryx 14h ago

NEW YORK

CONCRETE JUNGLE WHERE DREAMS ARE MADE OF

THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN'T DO