competitors are gone . “ A lot of those guys used to pick up and deliver documents . PDFs , faxes and email killed that business , but we ’ re still at it ,” he says . “ When I first moved to San Francisco 30 years ago , over 400 bike messengers were on the streets . Today , excluding the likes of Uber Eats and DoorDash , there are probably less than 40 bike messengers , and I have 10 of them . I think I ’ m the biggest bike messenger company in town .”
What are they delivering ?
Bicycle deliveries make sense for just about anything small and under 30 pounds . King Courier still has some customers who use them to pick up and deliver documents like court filings and other financial documents . Their bike messengers also deliver prescription drugs , boxes of wine for a Wine of Month club , and carpet and marble samples , among other things .
Some of the more unusual things that Brady himself has delivered on a bike are a six-foot potted palm , an armchair , and a four-by-eight-foot flat . Brady delivered that himself : “ There were 30-mile-an-hour winds when I delivered that for one of our big banking clients . And don ’ t forget the 6,000 cookbooks that I put in the trailer and delivered for a publishing company we had as a customer . I ’ ve got to tell you that cookbooks are heavy ! Those are deliveries you don ’ t forget !” he says .
Cost Factors
The cost factors involved with running bikes are different from those for other vehicles . “ The bikes are definitely cheaper to maintain than motorized vehicles . The big challenge , though , is worker comp . My drivers are employees , and we ’ ve had a tough time getting workers comp for them . It ’ s higher for bikers than for vehicle drivers ,” says Brady , pointing out that he used to use motorcycles for deliveries until he couldn ’ t get insurance for them anymore .
Looking to the Future
Despite some of the challenges of doing deliveries by bike , e-bike and cargo bike , Brady sees an expanding role for them in high-density areas like San Francisco , Boston , Seattle , Chicago , Philadelphia and Washington D . C . “ Cities are trying to find ways to deal with the escalating congestion . Some are even imposing congestion pricing . When that hits , cargo bikes are really going to take off ,” he points out . For example , Manhattan ’ s congestion pricing program , also known as the Central Business District ( CBD ) Tolling Program , is scheduled to start in June 2024 . The program will charge drivers fees to enter the central business district during peak hours . Fees for trucks are expected to be between $ 24 and $ 36 , cars will be $ 15 , and motorcycles will pay $ 7.50 . Cities like Singapore , Stockholm and London have had such programs in place for years .
Looking towards the future , Brady has his eye on a prototype being developed by Coaster Cycles . “ It ’ s an electric tricycle that has a cargo bin on the back that you snap off , and you can just roll it out of the warehouse or off the back of a bigger truck ,” he says . “ You fill it up , and it snaps back onto the trike . I ’ d love to use one of these vehicles with a big logistics company like FedEx . You could pull up to a 53-foot FedEx trailer with one of these things at the edge of the congestion pricing zone . You ’ d offload the items and put them on the cargo trikes . The cargo trikes would make the deliveries in a city , make pickups , and come back with full bins that would go back on the truck . That ’ s what I ’ d like to do .”
Words of Wisdom
Brady urges others in the last-mile to consider using bikes , e-bikes , and cargo bikes in their plans : “ Don ’ t just dismiss the idea . Changes for these vehicles are coming fast . You ’ re going to see lighter batteries and better motors . The equation is really going to shift in favor of these sustainable vehicles . They are the future .” CLDA
32 customized logistics & delivery Magazine I spring 2024