In downtown San Luis Obispo, transportation is familiar: cars navigate through intersections, bikes weave through traffic and pedestrians file sidewalks.
“I’m a pedicab operator,” Robert Greheta said. “If you don’t know what that is, it’s basically a tricycle with a couch on it that I pull people around with, a pedal cab, and I call it Ubert!”
Robert Greheta, owner of Ubert!, transports his customers in a less-than-conventional way. Greheta freely gives rides around town on his pedicab and aims to create an experience that takes you from point A to B, while having fun along the way.
The name, “Ubert!” comes from a mix of nicknames and circumstance. Greheta said people often shortened Robert to Burt, and the rest he was able to put together himself after being mistaken as an Uber a time ot two.
“It kind of named itself,” he said. “So Uber, I just put Uber and Bert to Uber.” The extra letter, he added, is open to interpretation. “Some people will be like, ‘What’s the T for?’ … ‘Well, it’s for tricycle.’ I just kind of make it up as I go.”
That off-the-cuff attitude shapes how Ubert! operates. Greheta previously ran a pedicab business with licensing, insurance and the structure that comes with a traditional business model. After 2020, he stepped away from that approach and now runs Ubert! without a fixed rate.
“If people say, ‘How much do you charge?’ I say, ‘I have no set fee because I’m not a business. I’m an experience,’” Greheta said.
Tips are welcome, but not required. That model, he said, changes the way he views each ride. Because there is no set charge, he does not frame the experience as a transaction in the usual sense.
Instead, the ride is built around whatever happens in the moment, whether it’s a quick lift across downtown or simply a few minutes of conversation while cruising through the city.
Ubert! is not Greheta’s main source of income. He described it as a side gig, especially active during the summer, while his broader work life includes a mix of other jobs, both past and present, including small business ownership, county work, state parks and municipalities. He also works as a certified utility worker.
The pedicab, though, fills a different role.
“Money is not the focus,” he said. “Money is a little cream on top.”
That outlook is tied to a larger philosophy that Greheta returns to throughout the ride. He describes Ubert! less as a business venture than as an extension of how he wants to move through life— loosely, playfully and without letting routine flatten everything into obligation.
He connects that mindset to the feeling of being a kid and playing without having to think about it first.
“Never let go of whatever playing means to you, just never stop doing that,” he said. “Whatever that means, even if it changes, transforms, adapts, never stop playing.”
That sense of play is part of what makes the pedicab memorable. Greheta rides through town with music, conversation and a visible sense of enjoyment. He said people often respond to that energy right away. Whether they wave, laugh, ask questions or hop on, the reaction becomes part of the ride itself.
“I just try to infest positivity and just uplift for everybody.”
The routes vary, with some riders having a destination in mind, while others are more interested in the novelty of the experience. Greheta’s favorite rides are often the simplest ones, where people just want to cruise around downtown with no particular endpoint.
“My favorite is people that just are like, ‘Dude, I just want to cruise around. Let’s just randomly go.’ And I’m like, ‘That’s all I want to do.’”
He is also open to longer trips when needed. In one case, he recalled taking someone to the airport after their other forms of transportation fell through. Even then, he is careful not to oversell what Ubert! is.
Ubert! does not run on a fixed schedule. Greheta describes himself as “a one-man show,” available when his other work allows or when people reach out directly. Social media and word of mouth help riders find him, but there is no guarantee he will be out at a specific time. That unpredictability is part limitation, part identity.
“There’s no really set schedule,” he said. “I just kind of like to be like a shooting star a little bit.”
Riders may also get something like a local’s perspective on San Luis Obispo, though Greheta does not present Ubert! as a formal tour.
He knows the city well, but not in the polished, historical-tour-guide sense. Instead, his commentary is often reflective of local stories and the sort of details that come from years around town.
Ubert! occupies an unusual place in downtown San Luis Obispo, all things included. It is part-transportation, part-performance and part-social-interaction— a product of Greheta’s personality and approach. It might be a practical ride for some. For others, it is simply an unexpected break in the routine of downtown life.
“If it’s not aligned with love and peace, then it might just be a distraction.”