Here’s a math problem:
If you and your friends are looking to get from Point A to Point B during a night out on the town, who’s going to get there quicker? The group that a) booked a rideshare or b) hailed a pedal-powered conveyance?
If you picked “a,” you’ve likely not patronized E-Z Pedicabs.
“There have been times where we’ve had customers jump on, and half the party already is going in an Uber, and we end up beating their rides to the destination by a few minutes, if not more,” said Atticus Sloan, who co-founded E-Z Pedicabs with Mark Manning.
The duo, both in their early 30s, launched E-Z Pedicabs in March 2024 with two electric pedicabs. The fleet had grown to four by the time E-Z Pedicabs won the $35,000 Grand Prize in AltCap’s Your Biz Pitch Competition in November.
The partners used the prize money to increase the fleet to eight. The expansion came as they prepared to serve the international and regional fans who will come to Kansas City for the FIFA World Cup matches to be played here between June 16 and July 11.
The World Cup is something Sloan and Manning have had on their calendars since Day One, and winning the AltCap competition was a welcome boost.
“I don’t know if we would have expanded this far in preparation or gotten to this level without the help,” Sloan said, “and so we’re excited.”
Ridership has tripled so far this year.
Sloan grew up as a homeschool student in Brookside; Manning grew up in Leawood and graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School.
Sloan was a full-time remodeler when he conceptualized E-Z Pedicabs, and his partnership with Manning started artfully. Sloan was finishing a project, and he solicited paint advice from Manning, who was working nearby on a mural for Kansas City Parks & Recreation.
Sloan’s initial noodling revolved around a way to travel with his erstwhile companion Boo, a 130-pound Great Dane who sadly died in January at the age of 12.
The company’s core service area runs north-south from the riverfront to the Country Club Plaza and east-west from the 18th & Vine Jazz District to the West Bottoms.
But their cadre of approximately two dozen drivers can extend beyond that for special occasions. Holiday light tours, for example, can extend to neighborhoods like Armour Hills and Waldo.
The pedicabs fit up to six passengers, and drivers can make good time by using bike lanes or sidewalks to skirt traffic or construction zones.
Customers can hail E-Z Pedicabs when drivers are out and about, or as is increasingly the case, they can call for a ride. E-Z Pedicabs also staffs special events, such as a recent five-cab wedding.
E-Z Pedicabs also earns revenue from selling advertising space on its pedicabs.
The company won the Fan Favorite prize in AltCap’s 2024 Your Biz Pitch Competition, using the prize money to buy cold-weather gear for its drivers. Manning and Sloan perfected their pitch for 2025 by using the professional development opportunities provided by AltCap.
Thus, Manning said, the business is set to thrive no matter what happens when soccer fans arrive here this month.
“A lot of people bring up, ‘Oh, you’re going to kill it during the World Cup,’” he said.
“It’s going to be great, but we’ve been growing and expanding and improving the business no matter what. So, this is going to be a wonderful thing to be part of … but this is not going to make or break us. It’s just going to be a very fun thing to be part of.”