GOT ROLLED
Wheel shame as tourists hit for $492 ride
A PACK OF Pennsylvania tourists were taken for a ride by an unlicensed pedicab driver who charged them nearly $500 for a 15-block trip in Midtown.
The group, mostly teens in town for a 15th birthday celebration with two adult chaperones, were hit with a $492 bill by the “bully” pedicab operator, according to the tourists and industry reps.
The 13-person trip on Oct. 22 included three separate pedis on one bill — and should have cost around $72 total even with the extra legwork, according to industry experts.
“These pedicab scams happen every day,” fumed Ibrahim Donmez, head of the New York Pedicab Network, an industry group.
The city allows pedicab drivers to charge whatever they want, as long as it’s by the minute and clearly posted on a rate card.
That ambiguity allows shady operators to fleece clueless tourists, who have no idea how long trips can take in New York traffic, for huge amounts.
Donmez wants a cap of $3 a minute — which he says many reputable drivers already charge — and says he receives at least one complaint a week on his website from tourists hoodwinked by unscrupulous drivers.
In this instance, Christina Dorris, 39, and her friend drove to Manhattan in a van packed with teens to celebrate her daughter’s birthday.
After the group went to see “Kinky Boots” at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on W. 45th St., the group decided to check out the Tiffany flagship store on Fifth Ave. and 57th St.
Dorris told the Daily News that a pedicab driver approached her and offered the huge group a ride for $7 a minute.
“I said, ‘total?’ and he said yes,’ ” she said.
When she agreed, he called over two other pedicabs, and assured her it would all be on one bill and again told her it was $7 a minute “total,” she said.
What should have been a quick ride dragged on when the driver — who Donmez later identified through photographs from Dorris’ trip as Samad Mansurov — took the long way, said the mom.
The trip ended up taking 21 minutes. Mansurov charged them $7 a minute for all three pedicabs, and added a surcharge for carrying extra passengers for a total of $492, she said.
She tried to argue with him, but he got very angry and demanding, Dorris said.
“He went from nice guy to ‘I’m going to screw you,’ ” she said.
Donmez said he’s also had issues with Mansurov and called him a “bully.”
Mansurov did not respond to a message for comment.
A city Consumer Affairs Department spokesman confirmed Mansurov had a license that expired in 2014.
A City Hall spokeswoman told The News that “multiple agencies are committed to enforcement of the pedicab industry to ensure riders are protected.”