Once just a summertime sight in Delaware, pedicabs have moved from the beach to the streets of downtown Newark. This fall, two pedicab companies launched service in the college town of about 30,000 people to ferry University of Delaware students and others to and from the restaurants and bars that line Main Street.

Newark had no pedicab-specific regulations when Matt Greenberg and Sean Hague, owners of Green Rides, tried to apply for a business license. Pedicab companies are now required to get business licenses and show proof of insurance for their vehicles. Green Rides and the other pedicab company, College Taxi, talked with Newark police about installing lights and other safeguards.

The city of Bloomington, Ind., had no regulations for pedicabs when a business started there in 2008, targeting Indiana University students seeking transportation to downtown nightlife. Legislation is in the works, but it comes with controversy.

"We were contacted by the yellow cab companies saying, 'Hey, this isn't fair, and how can they cherry-pick the downtown and do what they want to do when we have to serve the entire city limits, we have to operate 365 days a year, and we have to have a physical building?' " said Adam Wason, the city's assistant economic development director.

In Arlington, Texas, City Council members are mulling a pedicab ordinance, Councilman Jimmy Bennett said.

"What we're looking at is ... do we need to become involved in regulating it with regard to public safety?" Bennett said.

Pedicab regulations that recently passed in Marietta, Ga., require that drivers post the company's business license and rates inside each vehicle, similar to the procedures followed by taxi cab drivers, said Brian Binzer, director of development services.

This past year, the City Council in Salem, Mass., passed a host of regulations to deal with the rising pedicab industry, member Steven Pinto said.