BAY ST. LOUIS Brenda Cuevas has approval from the city to get her Old Town Pedicabs business going. Now she needs $7,800 to buy two bicycle rickshaws so she can start moving people around the downtown business district.

This week the city council unanimously approved a special exception to the zoning ordinance so Cuevas, a hairdresser and owner of Strandz, can start her tricycle shuttle service.

Cuevas thinks Old Town, with its popular restaurants, shops and galleries, is made for the pedicabs. And with the opening of the municipal harbor soon, she said, “Our boating visitors will need transportation to local eateries, shopping and nightlife.”

The pedicabs will be stored at 215 Main St. Proposed hours of operation will be from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and from 10 a.m. to closing on weekends.

“They serve as a major mode of ‘sustainable’ urban transportation, relying on just the pedal of the driver’s legs,” she wrote on beeabacker’s website, the crowdfunding platform where she’s trying to raise money. “This will be an environmentally conscious or green business as we will use no gasoline to conduct business; thus, leaving a no carbon footprint on our environment.”

Cuevas said she plans to buy more pedicabs to lease to qualified drivers. “Pedicabbing is an opportunity to work outside, meet interesting people, promote our city and get plenty of exercise,” she said.

To read about the pedicab project and beeabacker, go to http://gulfcoast.beeabacker.com/