Fire Island pedicabs receive state license for expanded operations
Justin Galbraith transports customers with his pedicab in front of the Fire Island Lighthouse. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
Pedicabs will begin running May 3 from Robert Moses State Park to the Fire Island Lighthouse and the border near the Fire Island community of Kismet and continue through Thanksgiving.
The state has licensed Fire Island Pedicab owner Justin Galbraith to run six six-seater pedicabs, says George Gorman, Long Island regional director for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. While in the past Galbraith had a permit from the state to run the business on a smaller scale, this winter the state put out a formal request for proposals to give others a chance to compete and to make sure the state also benefits from the growing pedicab profits, Gorman says.
"We are ecstatic," says Fire Island Lighthouse board member Tony Femminella. "This really helps us with visitors. It gives people who can’t walk the 8/10ths of a mile to the lighthouse the opportunity to get to us." The lighthouse does not have a parking lot or ferry service; the only other way to reach is to park at Robert Moses Field 5 and walk.
The distance from Robert Moses Field 5 to the Old Kismet Firehouse near the Kismet community’s border is approximately 2 miles, Galbraith says. Cars are not permitted on the sand-packed Burma Road that runs from Field 5 to Fire Island.
Prices will remain the same as they’ve been since 2019, says Galbraith, 56, of North Babylon. It’s $5 per person each way to the lighthouse and $10 per person to the Old Kismet Firehouse. Children younger than 12 are free. "I don’t see prices rising in the future," Galbraith says.
The bicycle pedicabs with power assist will operate from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays until Memorial Day weekend and then will run daily through Labor Day, Galbraith says. During the peak summer season hours will be 9 a.m. to sunset, he says. After Labor Day, the service will again operate Saturdays and Sundays only until Thanksgiving, he says.
Last summer, Galbraith also offered pedicab rides from downtown Bay Shore parking lots to the Maple Avenue ferries; this year that service is pausing, he says. He hopes to reinstate it next summer, he says.
Galbraith started the pedicab service in 2019 with one pedicab running from Robert Moses Field 5 and each year paid a permit fee to run the business. The license makes the business arrangement with the state more official, Galbraith and Gorman say.
The state will now receive a $10,000 annual fee and 8% of the pedicab gross, Gorman says.
"Albany has recognized it is a service," Galbraith says. "It’s become transportation for people to get in and out. It’s just another option."
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
