The city’s pedicab Wild West looked more like a ghost town yesterday — as a police crackdown on renegade rickshaws kept scores of scared drivers off the streets.
Licensed operators griped that even they are getting hit with scores of tickets — sometimes being pulled over multiple times in one day by different police squads — for the most minor traffic violations and for not meeting all the new regulations.
“They’re playing hard with everybody — there are more tickets now than ever before,” said Pazel Astakhov, 23, who was slapped with four tickets Sunday, including for not properly displaying his driver’s license, for not signaling to turn and for disorderly conduct.
Police have been on the lookout for rogue drivers — who are known for driving shoddy bikes and without insurance — since Saturday, the day the new regulations went into effect.
Since then, three pedicabs have been impounded for not being licensed.
“Cops are saying that pedicabs are their priority right now,” said rickshaw owner and driver Alex Korcheuny, who was pulled over nine times in the past three days and received a parking ticket.
“I’m afraid of working. We’re struggling,” he said.
For years, up to 1,000 pedicabs have flooded the streets at one time.
But yesterday, their usual hotspots such as Times Square, Herald Square and Central Park South were deserted of the vehicles, as the tricycles sat unused in garages around the city.
Many business owners said there are more registered pedicabs than there are licensed drivers to ride them — which will eventually even out as more people apply for licenses.
“I have five or six people ready to start, but I only have one driver out there right now because he’s the only one with a license,” said Gregg Zukowski, who owns the 19-pedicab operation Revolution Rickshaws.
As of yesterday, 943 pedicab applications were submitted, and 525 have passed inspection so far. Seventy-two were rejected, and the rest are awaiting inspection dates, according to the Department of Consumer Affairs.
As for driver’s licenses, 314 people have applied for one, and 292 have been approved so far. There’s no end date for driver’s-license applications.