History of the Positive Pedicab 

The history of this project begins with a love of cycling. Brent grew up on an apple orchard outside of town without neighborhood of kids to play with, so he road his bicycle the from the 4 miles to town he could find pick up football, whiffle ball, and tag games. This led to being able to cycle long distances. When Brent's father took up cycling, they soon were going on 70-90 mile trips. This led to bicycle racing, touring, and in 1986 Brent taking a 5,000 trip across the United States.  

While in college, a bar tender in Portsmouth, NH in the summer of 1985 owned three pedicabs. He  would rent them out to drivers for $50 a night. The drivers would then work trying to make back the $50 and then hopefully enough money in tips to be able to support the nights efforts. Brent loved giving people rides, he hated begging for tips. For years he wondered about a pedicab experience where an operator could just give rides. Rides are fun and often a pedicab is a useful urban transportation tool that can come just at the right time. 

After years of wondering about the pedicab ideas, searching for a pedicab for sale, etc. Brent was teaching classes at the University of NH about the theory reciprocity. The theory states that humans are wired to respond to kindness with a desire to reciprocate. This compulsion is so strong that it is often taken advantage of by salespeople. Free samples, trinkets, etc. are often used as reciprocity devices to influence decisions. What if that same principle could be used for good? 

In looking for pedicabs via Craigs List Brent came across an add for Pedicab operators in Portland, ME. He applied and went through the background checks and licensing to test out his theory. He rode five times, at a cost of about $550, and loved the experience. 

September, 2022

After the experience in Portland, Brent came back to work and pitched the idea of having students at UNH build a pedicab as part of their senior design project in Mechanical Engineering. Five students chose the Pedicab project, with Derek Jackson being named the team leader. Derek was a go getter who was convinced that he could build a really cool pedicab. With a group of students, the UNH pedicab was built in Durham for use in Durham. 

During this time Micheal Gormley had some experience operating a pedicab in Charlestown, South Carolina. Micheal dreamed of beginning a pedicab company and in doing his research came across Dr. Bell. They connected and discussed the trial and tribulations of trying to get a pedicab service off the ground. To be clear, there was a lot of frustration, set backs, unknowns, etc. So many people said "no" and even worse many people said "yes" but did not mean it. In discussing their frustrations they decidd to join forces and create their own Limited Liabitlity Company, Project Pedicab, LLC.

Project Pedicab has developed a second operation in Nantucket, MA named Nan Tuck Tuck. Micheal is the main contact on Nantucket, and Dr. Bell continues his research in Portsmouth. 

Project Pedicab is unique in that our model is to ride for a company, group or individual who wants to sponsor FREE RIDES for people.  The sponsors payment helps to fund the cost of operating a pedicab and allows Dr. Bell to conduct his research.  

We own four pedicabs, with a fifth UNH owned and built pedicab for use in Durham. We have given rides for a number of events in Portsmouth and have developed a following on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Feel free to join us on Facebook and Instagram at 

The Positive Pedicab Project