Cabbies battle rickshaw rivals

By Peter Graff

LONDON (Reuters) - "LICENSED TO KILL" reads a two-page newspaper advertisement, with a picture of nervous children in the back of a bicycle rickshaw decorated with a skull and crossbones.

The ad is paid for by taxi drivers and it's the latest salvo in a battle for customers pitting London's black cabs against the city's rickshaw drivers.

As authorities finally consider issuing licences for "pedicabs" after nearly a decade roaming the streets licence-free, the two sides are headed for a showdown.

In the mid-1990s a London company discovered a loophole in the Public Carriage Act that allows bicycle taxis to pick up customers without requiring a taxi licence.

Since then, the centre of the capital has become packed with rickshaws every night as bars and theatres close.

Rickshaw-rental firms say "pedicabs" are an environmentally friendly way to cover short distances in a crowded city.

But opponents, such as the rival drivers of black cabs, call rickshaws a pest clogging the streets.

"The biggest myth is that these things are green. You get a rickshaw with a drunk in the back. Then you get a bus packed with passengers stuck chugging along at 5 miles an hour behind it. Somebody please tell me how that is green?" said Steve McNamara, spokesman for the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association.