BARDSTOWN, Ky. (LEX 18) — Joshua Hoff has always loved to travel.
That passion to explore led to a new business venture for him.
“My wife and I like to travel a lot. We were out in Colorado for the first time and we were just hanging out on the streets of Colorado. I saw this pedicab ride by and thought ‘what is that thing,’” Hoff said.
“We got in and rode it for the first time and just fell in love with it.”
This love inspired Hoff to bring this service back home to Bardstown in the form of Bourbon City Pedalers.
Starting in September 2021, the business was simply a way for people to get around town, akin to Uber or Lyft. It didn’t take long for the community to get behind the new addition.
“We got quite a bit of attention right off the bat,” Hoff said.
“When we first launched, that first weekend we didn’t even charge for rides, just tips we made a substantial amount of money in that first weekend. So much that it motivated me to quit my full time job.”
Just as quickly as Bourbon City Pedalers gained attention, it expanded. The service has added multiple full sized taxis to its service on top of scheduling guided tours around town.
The success hasn’t come easy, dealing with obstacles such as COVID-19 and the economy.
“It wasn’t very easy at first at all. We were coming out of the pandemic. Obviously gas going up does affect our prices as it does everyone else.”
Hoff is thankful to the community for its support to navigate those challenges and actually credits inflation to some of its success.
The higher gas prices have less people driving and more people walking around town, which Hoff says is driving in business for the pedicab, which runs on battery power rather than gas.
At the end of the day, Huff is just happy to provide a service he thinks can give people a new perspective to enjoy all Bardstown has to offer.
“You get days where it’s a little bit hotter. You have people who can’t physically walk 2-3 blocks,” Hoff said.
“We want to be able to give them a chance to experience Bardstown to the fullest.”
If you want to learn more about Bourbon City Pedalers and their services, click here.
