By: Russ Spencer

The latest act on Broadway isn’t happening on stage — it’s playing out on the streets outside, where a chorus of rogue pedicabs, blaring New York-themed anthems like “Empire State of Mind,” is causing a full-blown quality-of-life crisis in the heart of the Theater District.

As The New York Post reported, the issue has reached a crescendo over the past year, as unlicensed pedicab operators descend on Midtown nightly, parking outside packed playhouses, pumping music at earsplitting volumes, and charging unsuspecting tourists as much as $400 for brief, post-curtain jaunts through traffic-choked streets.

“It happens pretty often,” said Kenneth Winter, a longtime licensed pedicab driver and spokesperson for the New York Pedicab Alliance. “They park in front of the theater waiting for the show to come out — sometimes as much as an hour before. Their point is to make as much money per transaction as possible. They’re like piranhas.”

Winter, who charges a flat $35 fare and carries insurance as required by city regulations, said many of the offenders operate without licenses or liability coverage, a costly requirement that he says deters compliance. The New York Post report confirmed that licensing a pedicab costs less than $50 annually — but mandatory insurance premiums can run into the thousands, a prohibitive cost for many.

The result? A Wild West of unregulated operators creating nightly chaos outside world-famous venues like the Belasco, Gerald Schoenfeld, and Ethel Barrymore Theaters. According to the report in The New York Post, security staff at these venues have repeatedly raised the alarm.

“Yeah, you can hear it inside the theater,” said Belasco Theatre security guard Pete Tarr. “A lot of times we tell them to turn down the music, and they give us the finger.”

A guard at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater echoed that frustration: “The complaints have been well documented for this. [The pedicabs] create a problem.”

Actors have even been forced to ad-lib lines in the middle of performances to acknowledge the unwelcome soundtrack coming from the street — a surreal intersection of live theater and street-level disruption reported by The Post.

The backlash has now reached City Hall. In response to mounting complaints, Council Members Erik Bottcher and Keith Powers have introduced a bill that would ban pedicabs from waiting within 50 feet of any Broadway theater. “Broadway performers shouldn’t have to compete with blaring pedicab speakers,” Bottcher told The New York Post in a statement. “Our bill puts some basic boundaries in place to protect the theater experience and bring order to the chaos outside the stage doors.”

A spokesperson for Bottcher confirmed to The Post that their office began receiving complaints from theater workers and residents as early as last year, citing not just noise but also pedestrian congestion and safety concerns.

Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance, told The Post that the biggest concern is safety. “When theaters get out, the pedicabs are generally in the streets, and maybe the congestion that they cause forces more people into the street.”

David Stuart, president of the 45th and 46th Street Block Association in Hell’s Kitchen, added that residents are fed up with the increasingly dangerous pedestrian conditions caused by the pedicab pileups.

Not surprisingly, not all pedicab drivers are thrilled with the proposal. John Aybaz, 26, a licensed driver originally from Turkey, admitted to blasting music to attract attention — but insisted he only does so after performances end.