In 2007 UPS ran a pilot program using bicycle carriers around Christmas time.
The company first began experimenting with bikes last year in New
Hampshire and Maine.
It must've been a success because they did it again this year.
This year the company expanded its bike delivery
services to Washington, California, Tennessee and Oregon.
According to Norman Black, a company spokesman, the bikes simply make sense at this time of year.
They see it as a cheap way to expand their fleet for peak demand.
Each U.P.S. bike delivery system (typically a $350 mountain
bike pulling a custom trailer) can haul only 15 to 20 packages a trip —
a mere fraction of what a truck can deliver. Nonetheless, the company
estimates that for every three bikes deployed during peak season on the
West Coast, it will save around 17 gallons of fuel a day and about
$38,000 in vehicle maintenance costs.
It would be great to see this expand both in regions served and time of year. I'd think the city is the ideal place for bicycle carriers. Then they could stop parking in the bike lane.
Helmet tip to Eric
Everything old is new again. When UPS started in Seattle in 1907 they used bicycles for deliveries.
Posted by: Steve Campbell | December 29, 2008 at 12:44 PM