If you live in the Midtown or Downtown areas, you've likely seen a polka-dotted cycle rickshaw around town lately. Chances are it was a Velocab, a part-engine, part-human-powered vehicle that serves as a taxi for one to three people. In a recent Sacramento Press article, Velocab owner Marc Christensen mentioned several historic spots accessible by a short bike ride. The following is a photo essay that captures a glimpse of what one might view on one of these rides, which takes less than two hours: Pictured: a Velocab, a zero-emissions taxi. Above: The Sacramento Press began its Velocab tour near the Amtrak station. It proceeded underneath the highway and into Old Sacramento. Photograph

 If you took a trip to, say, Phnom Penh, you would expect to be able to take a pedicab from your hotel to a restaurant and then afterwards around the city for a tour. The same would be true for most cities in Southeast Asia. But these days you might be surprised to do the same in Frankfurt or Delft … or even more recently in Boston or Sacramento. Pedicabs are being introduced in cities across Europe and America. The reasons are varied. Certainly they are a green alternative to cars or other forms of internal-combustion transport. There have been some technical innovations such as the electric assist that have made them more user-friendly. I like to think of their emergence in modern indus