When we talk about going from A-to-B in New Orleans, or complain about the state of the streets, our default assumption is, we’re driving a car. If you live here, you have a car parked outside your house. If you’re a tourist, you rent a car at the airport – and take your life in your hands like the rest of us driving around New Orleans.

That’s how it’s been for years. Until recently. Today, there’s a movement away from driving.

It’s not a mass movement. It’s not like there are hundreds of thousands of people abandoning their cars, but there are a significant number of New Orleanians riding bicycles. Especially e-bikes.

Fewer tourists are renting cars. Principally because of ride-sharing companies, Uber and Lyft. And in the French Quarter, tourists are hopping into pedicabs.

For the most part, the people piloting those pedicabs are independent operators. Like Uber and Lyft drivers, they’re gig workers who work for one of three New Orleans pedicab companies.

Each company has 15 pedicabs. One of the company’s pedicabs are yellow, another one has red pedicabs, and a company called Need A Ride NOLA has white pedicabs.

A person who goes by a one-word name, Tree, has been piloting Need A Ride NOLA pedicabs since 2016.

We first met Tree on Out to Lunch in 2013. At that time were producing this show at Commander’s Palace and Tree had a Garden District tour guide business called Racontours that ended with a 5 course lunch at Commander’s. And a lot of 25c martinis.

My other lunch guest, Charlie Thomas, owns the Mid-City bike shop, Bayou Bicycles. But that’s not his day job. He’s actually a lawyer. A personal injury attorney. Specializing in cases involving bikes and cyclists.

Charlie practices bicycle-related law across three states: Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. He’s a member of a national network of bicycle lawyers, called the Bike Law network. And here in New Orleans, Charlie’s a partner in the Huber Thomas law firm where he oversees a team of attorneys and paralegals, five of whom work consistently on bike-related cases.

When you look back at old photos from years ago, it can be amazing to note that, what at the time was just a regular haircut, shirt and pair of pants, now looks so identifiable as belonging to a different era.

Today, bikes are part of our zeitgeist. Or, as zeitgeist-y language would have it, bikes are having a moment.  What we don’t know is – is it more than a moment? Is it a trend? 20 years from now, will millions more Americans be riding bicycles and e-bikes? Or will they look at photos from this era and marvel at how 2020’s we looked back then with our bikes?

Whichever way the future turns out, for right now, Charlie and Tree are definitely pedaling us toward it.

Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans. You can find photos from this show at itsneworleans.com.

When we talk about going from A-to-B in New Orleans, or complain about the state of the streets, our default assumption is, we&rsquo;re driving a car. If you live here, you have a car parked outside your house. If you&rsquo;re a tourist, you rent a car at the airport &ndash; and take your life in your hands like the rest of us driving around New Orleans.
That&rsquo;s how it&rsquo;s been for years. Until recently. Today, there&rsquo;s a movement away from driving.
It&rsquo;s not a mass movement. It&rsquo;s not like there are hundreds of thousands of people abandoning their cars, but there are a significant number of New Orleanians riding bicycles. Especially e-bikes.
Fewer tourists are renting cars. Principally because of ride-sharing companies, Uber and Lyft. And in the French Quarter, tourists are hopping into pedicabs.
For the most part, the people piloting those pedicabs are independent operators. Like Uber and Lyft drivers, they&rsquo;re gig workers who work for one of three New Orleans pedicab companies.
Each company has 15 pedicabs. One of the company&rsquo;s pedicabs are yellow, another one has red pedicabs, and a company called <a href="https://www.needaridenola.com/">Need A Ride NOLA</a> has white pedicabs.
A person who goes by a one-word name, Tree, has been piloting Need A Ride NOLA pedicabs since 2016.
<a href="https://itsneworleans.com/2013/03/03/out-to-lunch-a-tree-mendez-rootsuit-out-to-lunch-its-new-orleans/">We first met Tree on Out to Lunch in 2013</a>. At that time were producing this show at Commander&rsquo;s Palace and Tree had a Garden District tour guide business called Racontours that ended with a 5 course lunch at Commander&rsquo;s. And a lot of 25c martinis.
My other lunch guest, Charlie Thomas, owns the Mid-City bike shop,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bayoubicycles.com/">Bayou Bicycles</a>. But that&rsquo;s not his day job. He&rsquo;s actually a lawyer. A personal injury attorney. Specializing in cases involving bikes and cyclists.
Charlie practices bicycle-related law across three states: Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. He&rsquo;s a member of a national network of bicycle lawyers, called the <a href="https://www.bikelaw.com/">Bike Law </a>network. And here in New Orleans, Charlie&rsquo;s a partner in the <a href="https://huberthomaslaw.com/">Huber Thomas law firm </a>where he oversees a team of attorneys and paralegals, five of whom work consistently on bike-related cases.
When you look back at old photos from years ago, it can be amazing to note that, what at the time was just a regular haircut, shirt and pair of pants, now looks so identifiable as belonging to a different era.
Today, bikes are part of our zeitgeist. Or, as zeitgeist-y language would have it, bikes are having a moment.&nbsp; What we don&rsquo;t know is &ndash; is it more than a moment? Is it a trend? 20 years from now, will millions more Americans be riding bicycles and e-bikes? Or will they look at photos from this era and marvel at how 2020&rsquo;s we looked back then with our bikes?
Whichever way the future turns out, for right now, Charlie and Tree are definitely pedaling us toward it.
Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at&nbsp;<a href="https://thecolumns.com/">Columns in Uptown New Orleans</a>. You can find photos from this show at <a href="https://pod.fo/e/6f35cb">itsneworleans.com</a>.

OUT TO LUNCH finds economist and Tulane finance professor Peter Ricchiuti conducting business New Orleans style: over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Olreans. In his 15th year in the host seat, Ricchiuti’s learned but uniquely NOLA informal perspective has established Out to Lunch as the voice of Crescent City business. You can also hear the show on WWNO 89.9FM.

OUT TO LUNCH finds economist and Tulane finance professor Peter Ricchiuti conducting business New Orleans style: over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Olreans. In his 15th year in the host seat, Ricchiuti&rsquo;s learned but uniquely NOLA informal perspective has established Out to Lunch as the voice of Crescent City business. You can also hear the show on WWNO 89.9FM.

Tulane finance professor Peter Ricchiuti conducting business New Orleans style: over lunch at Commander's Palace restaurant.

It's New Orleans: Out to Lunch

OUT TO LUNCH finds the country's most entertaining finance professor Peter Ricchiuti conducting business New Orleans style: over lunch. Each week Peter invites guests from the New Orleans business world to join him for a midday bite. CEO's, startups, managers, musicians, biomed needle-movers, tech success stories and entrepreneurs of all stripes put aside the elevator pitch and talking points and actually enjoy themselves. It's business, New Orleans style. 
You can also hear the show on WWNO 89.9FM.

OUT TO LUNCH finds the country's most entertaining finance professor <a href="https://freeman.tulane.edu/faculty-research/finance/peter-ricchiuti">Peter Ricchiuti </a>conducting business New Orleans style: over lunch. Each week Peter invites guests from the New Orleans business world to join him for a midday bite. CEO's, startups, managers, musicians, biomed needle-movers, tech success stories and entrepreneurs of all stripes put aside the elevator pitch and talking points and actually enjoy themselves. It's business, New Orleans style. You can also hear the show on <a href="https://www.wwno.org/show/out-to-lunch">WWNO 89.9FM</a>.