 Peddling
a Ride
Peddling a
Ride: Missoula’s Bicycle Rickshaw Service
While my wife
and I drove aimlessly around the Lower Rattlesnake trying to
find the location of a wedding reception at which we were
guests, we stopped and gawked as the bride and groom,
sitting together arm in arm and newly married, rolled gently
down the street in a bicycle driven carriage. A man peddled
the carriage slowly, almost like a gondolier, while the
bride’s veil lifted and blew back lightly. We watched as the
bride and groom waved like royalty to the people they rolled
passed who were wishing the couple a happy life together. It
was a beautifully strange scene, blending the romance of
canals in Venice with the streets of Missoula. Later, I
learned that the bicycle driven carriage was not a carriage,
but one of two rickshaws from a bicycle rickshaw
service in town. A few weeks later, the Missoula Writing
Collaborative was staging a student poetry reading at the
Gold Dust Gallery. After the elementary school students and
local poets took turns reading their poetry, they were given
cookies and treats and free rickshaw rides up and down the
streets of the North Side by a driver dressed up in a pirate
suit—the kids loved it. As I write this, the poster for
Bike Walk Bus Week 2007 features, of course, a blown up
photograph of a rickshaw with riders and their driver.
Gradually, these rickshaws are becoming a ubiquitous feature
of Missoula night life and events. Once the weather warms
up, on Friday and Saturday nights in the Spring and Summer,
rickshaws can be seen at weddings or parties, or peddling
people from downtown restaurants towards bars or University
events and back. If you find yourself downtown taking a ride
on a rickshaw, the chances are good that the man at the
wedding, the man in the pirate suit, and the man on the
poster will be the same man providing the leg power and
rudder steering you through the canal like streets—that man
is Jonas Ehudin, owner and operator of one of the fleet of
rickshaws collectively known as Brazed Chicken Rickshaw
Service.
Originally,
the rickshaw business was the brainchild of Finny, a former
Missoulian who had brought a rickshaw from Thailand,
restored it, and offered rickshaw rides for a summer in
downtown Missoula. Brazed Chicken has since stepped in to
continue offering rickshaw rides, building their own fleet
of bicycle rickshaws based off of an Indonesian design in
which the passenger seats are positioned in front of
the driver which allows for more passengers, better views,
and a much more gondola-like cruising experience. However,
instead of having the driver belt out old Italian love songs
on request, these rickshaws have speakers hooked up to an
I-pod loaded with songs to fit the mood and tastes of
whoever climbs in for a ride. So whether you want a raucous
ride to the bar or a sunset cruise along the river, there
will always be a soundtrack to match. Whether on
formal or informal occasions, the rickshaw provides a unique
ambiance.
“We did a
wedding out in the Nine-Mile area last summer where we were
taking people from their cars into the ceremony and then
giving people rides around afterwards. It was really cool.
I have two weddings for this summer already,” says Ehudin.
When not doing
weddings or sunset river cruises, the rickshaws ferry people
safely from downtown to their homes or from one bar to the
next. The sound system, lights, horns, and bells fitted
onto the rickshaw draw the attention and interest of most
pedestrians and bystanders. Often, passengers find
themselves hooting, cheering, and waving as they pass other
pedestrians laughing and cheering back. Even when there are
not riders, the sound system and music often inspires
impromptu dancing and singing and high-fives from people on
the sidewalks. The quiet streets and dark alleys suddenly
fill with the light and music of a carnival. This is why
Ehudin has acquired a kind of celebrity status among locals
with regular customers stopping by to grab a ride or hang
out next to the rickshaw and chat. You can tell his idea is
going well when his own customers come over to the parked
rickshaw and begin encouraging other people passing by to
jump in for a ride. That’s the best word of mouth
advertising his business can get. The recent plugs for it
as “green transportation” can only help, although according
to Ehudin it wasn’t the original impetus. What started out
as a fun project to hang out and make a little money on the
side is now on the poster for alternative transportation:
“It always happens this way where something just happens
because it’s fun or it’s appropriate and then suddenly [it’s
applauded as] alternative energy’”
 The
rickshaws have, by happy accident, provided a safe, fun,
environmentally sound mode of alternative transportation.
Ecological benefits aside, the rickshaw business also
creates community. It provides music and lighting and a bit
of bright color, humor, and joy to a downtown bar scene that
all too often spills out into the streets in fights, shouted
insults, and inebriated displays of masculinity. The
rickshaw passes through or parks at the corner and people
dance and sing together in the streets. “It’s crazy. It’s
really positive, and people enjoy themselves. A lot of
people tell me it’s their favorite time. It’s the most
exciting thing they’ve done in weeks.”
While the
rickshaw service gains in popularity and acceptance among
Missoulians, Ehudin’s plans for Brazed Chicken remain
modest. They hope to begin building a third rickshaw to add
to their fleet and maybe even upgrade and add more
interesting features to the existent rickshaws they have.
Ehudin likens his business model to the early days of Coney
Island and boardwalks: “I was thinking about Coney Island or
Asbury Park in New Jersey where they had boardwalks and this
one crazy person who decided to set up a shooting gallery.
It was one person and their idea. I sort of want to keep it
like that.”
For Rickshaw Services for parties,
weddings, and other special events contact Jonas Ehudin at
(406) 542-5165.
|
