BELLINGHAM — It’s 10 on a brisk Friday night, and in a small garage off Holly Street dubbed “the Batcave,” Levin Kegy is suiting up for work.

As he pulls up his striped socks and straps on a shiny gold fanny pack, he mounts a 175-pound tricycle and hangs a noisemaking children’s toy from the back of his belt.

“For the drunks,” he explains.

A moment later, Kegy, 24, and three others descend upon downtown astride formidable trike-and-chariot rigs owned by Cascadia Cabs, a pedicab service founded by Bellingham resident Ryan Hashagen.

Though Hashagen, 25, started the company riding a single pedicab in downtown Bellingham last summer, the local fleet now boasts four trikes, and the service has been launched in Seattle and Portland, Ore., with plans for service in Vancouver, B.C., by the end of the month.

“One of the most exciting things is that we’re changing the street scape,” Hashagen said. “Hopefully we’re doing a service to the city by providing an alternative for getting around safely.”

Bellingham Police Sgt. Bob VanderYacht, who works the night shift, said pedi-cab drivers he’s encountered have been safe and pleasant.

“I think it’s a positive thing,” VanderYacht said of the company. “It adds another dynamic, a neat flavor to the downtown.”

Pedicabbie Tyson Miller wastes no time on his downtown route, honking his bright pink horn and yelling greetings to gawking pedestrians who stare, laugh or shout as he passes. Carrying a load of three women down State Street, he unabashedly yells “Smooches!” to a couple kissing on the sidewalk.

“In Bellingham, unlike any other city, it’s the way people react,” said Hashagen, whose service runs annually from about March to October. “The entire sidewalk lights up. People cheer and applaud for us doing our job.”

Making his way down Railroad Avenue, Kegy turns up the volume on the enormous black boom-box strapped to the floorboard of his chariot.

“Dance to my beats!” he shouts to bewildered passersby. “I command you!”

Fifteen rotating drivers rent the rigs for $20 a night, working shifts from about 10 p.m. to 2:15 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. As independent contractors, they charge whatever they see fit and keep their fares.

But for “the Chain Gang,” as the Bellingham crew is dubbed, the job isn’t about the money.

“I honestly just do this for fun,” said Miller, who said nightly pay can vary from $20 to hundreds of dollars.

Fellow driver John Trilling, 23, said requests range from going two blocks to take passengers to meet friends at a bar to several miles to a rider’s home at the end of the night.

Cabbies have taken passengers as far as Fairhaven, Alabama Hill and Bellis Fair mall, playing every role from tour guide to friend to psychiatrist. Though some customers have had a few too many, it’s rare to get stiffed on a fare, Miller said.

A bigger concern for drivers is staying safe amid downtown traffic and drunken customers.

“You have to really pay attention to traffic and let cars know what you’re doing through hand signals and eye contact,” Miller said.

Whatcom Community College student Mikayla Hieber, the only woman on the crew, said the dynamic between her and her customers is different from that of the male drivers, but she’s never felt unsafe at work.

“I never run into any problems,” she said. “There are so many police around, and my crew is downtown too. If you’re able to put your boundaries up it’s OK.”

Hieber said she only began bicycling seriously a month before she took the job.

“It’s kind of a party on the go,” she said. “You don’t drink or do drugs, but there’s this whole social aspect to being able to get paid to be who you are.”

For Kegy, that aspect is more important than his corporate job at an engineering firm in Mount Vernon. He’ll quit the job this week, but he’ll keep his pedicab gig of two to three days a week.

“I have no passion for the industry anymore” Kegy said of his other job. “If quitting means not making the big bucks then so be it. I’ve had more fun in the last few weeks than I ever have before.”