Photo by [F]oxymoron

At some point in the near future, you’ll be able to find a Capitol Bikeshare station on the National Mall and ride wherever you please. But if you pay someone to take you in a pedicab, well, that’s more complicated.

A months-long truce between pedicabs and the National Park Service seems to have come to an end in November, as a pedicab operator was arrested for allegedly assaulting a Park Police officer. The arrest, the third of its type this year, has provoked renewed complaints from pedicabs that they’re being targeted by a Park Service that seems to see them as both a nuisance and a threat. (In June, a pedicab operator was tased by Park Police before being arrested.)

Hoping to find some middle ground, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton sent a letter to the Park Service this week asking that pedicabs be included in any future discussions over a comprehensive transportation plan for the Mall and that Park Police work with drivers to address the simmering tension:

In addition, I ask that you meet with pedicab drivers to help avoid increasing tension before it gets out of hand. I understand that NPS has committed to meeting with pedicab owners, but I am concerned about the increased instances of confrontation between pedicab drivers and the U.S. Park Police. Drivers lack clarity on the current rules, particularly since the emergency transportation regulations recently expired. Hearing from the drivers, who are most directly impacted by the regulations, would be helpful not only as you consider the design of your plan, but also in reducing the uptick in confrontations between pedicab drivers and U.S. Park Police around the National Mall. As I understand it, a number of tickets have been issued to pedicab drivers for traffic and parking infractions, yet most have been dismissed. And there was a recent arrest of a driver, after some escalation, who asserts that it began over nothing more than a misunderstanding of the emergency transportation regulations issued by the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) that expired on November 29, 2011. I believe that a meeting among NPS, U.S. Park Police, and pedicab owners and operators could end unseemly and unnecessary conflict and could turn the page to a more tranquil relationship.

According to Oskar Mosco, an organizer for the D.C. Pedicabbers Association, all they’re seeking is “regulations and guidance from the Park Service.” He added that they haven’t had any issues with the city and expect permanent regulations on pedicabs to be imposed soon.

The relationship with the Park Service and Park Police has been such, though, that “pedicabbers are looking behind their backs,” he added.