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.

As promised, the District of Columbia released new guidelines for pedicab operators this morning, including regulations on seatbelt use, brakes and sober operation of said vehicles.

The subject of pedicabs was a hot one this weekend, after a pedicab driver was tased by a U.S. Park Police officer. That incident also sparked a wider discussion regarding the regulation of the vehicles — today, Mayor Vince Gray announced that the District Department of Transportation would begin doing just that in the very near future.

Seen these messenger messagers around town? Yesterday, driving up 14th Street NW just north of Federal Triangle, I spotted four or five of these guys riding in a column on the road. From behind, they look exactly like scooter-powered pedicabs. Which seems like a bright enough idea: smaller than an auto rickshaw, with more speed at less physical cost to the driver, just in time for the brutally humid summer. (No doubt a pedicab rider…

As any classicist knows, the pedicab was the ride of choice for the Greek god Hermaphroditus. He preferred the indeterminate nature of the pedicab. Is it a bicycle? Is it an automobile? To the mortal sphere, rider/driver! So this week marks a fierce challenge to the authority of ambiguity. The Washington Business Journal reports that the men and women of the District Department of Transportation seek to settle the question for good by establishing rules…