I sense yet another rising trend thanks to the rising price of gas: pedicabs.

You probably know what I'm talking about, even if you don't know the word -- if you've seen someone pedaling on a bicycle-like vehicle, pulling a few people behind him -- you've likely seen a pedicab.

Half bicycle, half taxicab, these things have been popular around the world for decades (and its man-powered predecessor, the rickshaw, for centuries before that) but I'm seeing more articles in the newspaper about them, and a friend of mine recently sent me the link of a friend of his, who just started a pedicab business in Chicago.

This morning after I dropped my kids off at their respective camps, I counted no less than five Vespas on the road. Maybe that doesn't sound like a remarkable number to you, but this is Los Angeles, not Italy. Vespas were always considered a quaint novelty.

Now, however, as gas hovers at around $4.60 a gallon for regular, anecdotal evidence seems to suggest the gas-sipping scooter is on its way toward becoming a mainstream transportation option.

It's not just my random observations either, apparently. According to industry sources, scooter sales have risen 24% in the first quarter of 2008 compared to the same quarter last years.