Pedicabs banned from playing music in win for West End theatres

[macbeth]

Posted: 3/12/26 at 6:59am

https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/pedicabs-banned-from-playing-loud-music-in-win-for-solt

 

[Dreamboy3]

Posted: 3/12/26 at 8:07am

I wish New York would do the same thing. It is an obnoxious practice to assume that others (or act with disregard to the fact that other people do not) want to hear it. 

[tacotheatrelover]

Posted: 3/12/26 at 8:56am

Dreamboy3 said: "I wish New York would do the same thing. It is an obnoxious practice to assume that others (or act with disregard to the fact that other people do not) want to hear it."

I swear to **** a taxi came past the August Wilson during 'If you could see her' and was BLASTING Barbie girl at the top volume.

[MasterThespian 2]

Posted: 3/12/26 at 9:00am

Wish NYC would ban that garbage here. Insanely annoying for pedestrians. Must be worse for the tourists riding in those things. Who wants ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ blasting in their face?

Updated On: 3/12/26 at 09:00 AM

[Kad]

Posted: 3/12/26 at 9:26am

Pedicabs in the entire Times Square area to HK should be banned, imo. Blaring music aside, it is just already far too congested an area for them. 

[uncageg]

Posted: 3/12/26 at 2:31pm

I Loved the song "Empire State of Mind" when it came out. I honestly cannot listen to it anymore.

I have attended a few performances where the music blasting from those things pretty much ruined a quiet moment in a show.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 3/12/26 at 5:57pm

I think the blaring music is more about standing out in a sea of pedicabs than anything else, and yes, this is a big win for the West End, and hopefully NYC follows suit soon.

[BalconyClub]

Posted: 3/12/26 at 6:41pm

In the Chicago BOOP! tryout, Faith Prince made her first entrance riding inside a pedicab. (But in one Chicago performance, she entered walking behind the pedicab.)

The pedicab entry was cut between Chicago and New York.

Updated On: 3/12/26 at 06:41 PM

[pmensky]

Posted: 3/12/26 at 6:45pm

There was a bill last year that would have created a buffer around Broadway houses, but it expired before it reached a vote. Nothing in the current code stops pedicabs from sitting directly outside the doors, and the theaters have no authority to intervene. They cannot enforce noise rules, they cannot move the pedicabs, and they cannot take any direct action on the street. They are completely dependent on the city, and the city has not acted.

One idea that might shift the situation is a theatre district wide ‘Quiet Zone’ campaign. The goal would be to change the social meaning of the space rather than wait for legislation. If the theaters frame the district as a place where people protect the atmosphere of live performance from noise pollution, the loud pedicabs become the obvious disruptors. They start to look out of place, and they become the ones breaking the shared expectation. Tourists respond to cues like that. They avoid anything that feels unofficial or disruptive. It is a psychological strategy that turns the pedicabs into the thing people do not want to be seen supporting. It’s not a law or law enforcement. It’s just a way to shift the culture of the district since the system, so far, has failed.