London’s lone rickshaw driver starting carting people through downtown and across the city 11 years ago when his lifelong commitment to fitness collided with his need for a job.
London’s lone rickshaw driver starting carting people through downtown and across the city 11 years ago when his lifelong commitment to fitness collided with his need for a job.
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Johannes Lamoureux didn’t expect to become a matchmaker, too, but that’s where the road – and the streets, avenues and boulevards – took him while making a living with one of the most unique, and physically demanding, jobs in the city.
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“I had two couples say: ‘We got married because of you,’ the 49-year-old recalled of people who circled back to say they hitched a ride with him on the night they met.
“I’m just as fast as a car in downtown. . . sometimes faster,” he said. “I can go through tight spaces where cars can’t.”
His manually pulled, two-wheel vehicle, with seating for two or three passengers, would be a common sight in large cities like Toronto – but he says his is the only one in London.
He generally takes people home from Richmond Row’s bar scene, which of course often means late nights. He charges a flat rate, sometimes $20, to go from a downtown bar to Western Universitywhich he estimates is roughly two kilometers – followed by an equal distance to return and grab more fares.
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Working in four- to six-hour shifts, he’ll typically run 100 kilometers per week pulling the rickshaw. It has winter tires, too, so he can work during snow storms and has even ventured out in weather as cold as -22 C.
Lamoureux says he always led an active lifestyle, even in childhood. By age nine, he was walking eight kilometers to and from school while growing up in northern Ontario. He recalls joining a cycling club as a teenager and approaching 60 kilometers/hour during a time trial.
“The owner of the cycling club stopped with his eyes wide open and said, ‘How did you do that?’” he said. “I’ll never forget his face.”
To develop his business, City Wide Rickshaws, he built his own website with a special feature that lets customers pinpoint its location and availability. To make the experience more memorable for riders, Lamoureux has incorporated music, LED lights and even a TV screen for passengers to watch music videos.
The health benefits are obvious – but there are also health risks, including the fact downtown traffic has increased over the years, along with its exposure to exhaust fumes.
“I’ve started noticing it a lot more,” he said. “If the right job came around that I could get into, I would probably give it a go. I don’t know that I will be running a rickshaw 10 years from now.”
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