Wenzday Jane uses one to pick up a shipment at Taza Chocolate. (Joanne Ciccarello / Staff)
Cargo trikes nudge delivery trucks in Cambridge, Mass.
A Cambridge, Mass., delivery company is using industrial tricycles to deliver goods in efforts to curb global emissions.
By Mark Clayton | April 3, 2008 edition
Reporter Mark Clayton talks about a new bicycle-based shipping company that's turning heads in Boston.
Reporter Mark Clayton
Cambridge, Mass.
On a recent drizzly gray afternoon, Wenzday Jane straps on gaiters to keep tire spray from soaking her socks. Then she hops onto a ruby-red three-wheeled cycle van with a silver-winged “NAP” monogram emblazoned on its cargo hold – and pedals smoothly into thick Boston traffic.
Her mission: Deliver 150 pounds of gourmet chocolates and cheeses from industrial kitchens in Cambridge, Mass., to shops and restaurants across Boston, while emitting zero pollution.
In a city choked with diesel-spewing delivery trucks, the fledgling New Amsterdam Project (NAP), a Cambridge-based cargo-hauling company, is pedaling toward profits aboard an emissions-free fleet of urban “cargo trikes.”
China, India, and other developing nations have long utilized bicycle-based delivery for many goods – but are shifting toward engine-powered vehicles. Across North America, bicycle delivery services exist in several cities. Yet pedal-powered hauling for cargo has been largely a no-show in the United States.
That makes NAP stand out for its sole focus on human-powered cargo delivery, says Andrew Brown, the company’s founder and CEO. A psychiatrist by training and lover of all things bicycle-related, Mr. Brown launched the company last fall and now finds himself dividing time between cycling to companies where he counsels workers – and making deliveries.
“We’re getting trucks off the road, that’s one of our goals,” says Brown. “Each time we make a delivery, we demonstrate … that there’s a better way – a system that is less expensive, better for their products, better for the environment, and for their community.”
Actually there are many goals for this windmill tilter. An encounter in an Amsterdam coffee shop in 2005 – in which a local man regaled him with stories about his nation’s bicycle culture, a place where politicians and even the queen ride regularly – set the wheels in motion.
The gentleman bluntly said the US had made a “bad habit” out of driving cars too much – when bicycling was so much more pleasant, Brown recalls.
An expert in helping people leave bad habits, he began pondering how he might help America quit its addiction to the “automobile habit.” He might have a chance, he reasoned, if he could demonstrate for a capitalist society that it can be highly profitable to keep people fit, lessen dependence on oil, and help the environment.
Research led him to a British company, Cycles Maximus, that makes commercial trikes used by the government to deliver the Royal Mail. One of their trikes’ key features is an electric-assist. It allows even diminutive riders to haul 800 pounds up hill – and zip away from a stop at the pace of a car. It doesn’t replace pedaling: the driver must pedal for the assist to work.
That effort is a key point for Brown. Whether delivering pies, chocolates, organic produce, or green building products, NAP’s ultimate motive is to show people bicycles are a great way to stay fit, as well as break the internal-combustion stranglehold.
“It’s almost like cars are the sea within which we live and we’re so attached to them, it’s so habitual,” he says. “We are trying to lead the way, to set an example about how to get away from cars altogether.”
As utopian as that might sound, there are a few tentative signs that Brown might be onto something. High gasoline prices and rising concerns over climate change do seem to be opening the door to interest in cycling to work – and just perhaps, a new way of delivering many goods in crowded urban settings.
Signs include rising numbers of bike commuters, especially in places like Portland, Ore; Boston; Boulder, Colo.; San Francisco; and Washington, D.C., says Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists, an advocacy group based in Washington.
“Gas prices are making people think twice about how they get around,” he says. “What NAP is doing is in the vanguard of this movement. Even if it isn’t common yet, it’s definitely coming. It just makes good sense.”
Perhaps so, but even Brown admits there is “a huge cultural hurdle” to overcome in the land of the pickup truck.
“People do laugh,” he says. “They can’t understand how a bicycle can possibly function in a way commensurate with an automobile, much less a light truck.”
But there are signs some do get it. Pedal Express in Berkeley, Calif., and Revolution Rickshaws in New York City are two companies specializing in bicycle-based delivery and pedicab operations that will also deliver heavy loads by cargo cycle. Greg Zukowski, president of Revolution, sells cycle vans from Cycles Maximus, including five sold to Brown for around $12,000 each.
“We’re mainly a courier messenger service that uses these trikes,” Mr. Zukowski says. “But [cargo delivery] is something we’re doing more of every day.”
There’s also been a surprising, if somewhat elusive, endorsement of the cargo-cycle concept by a big industry player: United Parcel Service. UPS tested the cargo-cycle concept over the 2007 Christmas holidays in several Vermont communities with bicycles pulling small trailers, according to Seven Days, a weekly based in Burlington.
Just how much UPS likes the idea isn’t something the company is talking about right now, however. “It’s something I’ve been told is not public at this time,” says Heather Robinson, a UPS spokesperson.
Brown admits NAP isn’t making money just yet. Both he and Ms. Jane, the company general manager, are still working to get the word out. Yet for a half-dozen companies like Taza Chocolate, Brown’s concept of cycle-based delivery for their “fair trade” chocolate matters a lot.
“We believe our customers are quite interested in lowering their carbon footprint,” says Alex Whitmore, a Taza co-founder. “We think NAP’s approach to delivery does that for us, which is pretty sweet.”
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Comments
2. Janie Jones | 05.28.08
You know, if you could put a very lightweight cab around the rider, and possibly add a passenger seat at the rear, this could be the next “smart car.” Most U.S. drivers need the ability to haul stuff (e.g., groceries), the ability to have at least one passenger, and some protection from the elements (and other people on the road, for those of us in less safe neighborhoods)–but if you could provide that, I think this would sell… the minute gas hits $5 a gallon, which should be right around the corner.
3. K. Lane | 07.04.08
This makes me think of the US made RhodesCar - a four person pedal “car” that can be purchased with an optional electric motor assist. It looks like a bicycle that was merged with a golf cart, and could be the next big “jump” ahead in green commuting. To make this work in a widespread fashion America has to slow down and give themselves more time to get to their next destination, which would make for a happier and healthier population while reducing dependence on foreign oil - remember half the fun of any trip is getting there.
4. J. Rick | 07.18.08
This is so fabulous! I almost hope the cost of gas stays up, despite P. Bush’s latest move to continue the oil industry’s stranglehold on America (Gulf oil exploration and increased production). It seems that the gas crisis is making things happen for a more responsible, environmental friendly world. I suppose it is more complicated than that, b7ut hopefully the trend will continue.
7. John Blackburn | 11.24.08
The effiency of any transport system - especially those which are organised to eliminate empty running - depends on how end-users receive their goods. It is next to impossible to have fuel efficient final distribution, and this is definitely one way forward, for light loads, in good or passable weather.
A very good initiative!
8. ED LIVINGSTON | 12.09.08
Like the 55mph national speed limit, this idea cannot be applied to everyplace in the US. It would be fine in the flatlands (NYC, Boston, DC, Chicago, LA) but hardly usable in many places in the appalachian mountains, the rockies, etc. I got rid of my bicycle when I moved into this community. Riding a couple miles from my house is simply impractical for all except the young, dedicated, physical conditioning rider. Even such riders transport their bikes to places where they can be ridden with some enjoyment.
9. Jeff in China | 12.19.08
I would think everyone realizes that the concept of a cargo bike wouldn’t be practical everywhere. However, that doesn’t lessen its value where it can be used and may provide inspiration for alternatives in places that it might be impractical. Our environment is degrading at a rate faster than anyone ever thought and its going to take a great deal of these kinds of ideas and concepts to bring us back. Way to go NAP!
10. Streever | 12.23.08
Sure,
i’ll use this in 6 feet of snow
and you can drive a regular delivery truck in it too!!!
(next time self-edit)
11. K. Hunter | 01.08.09
I live in London and I would love to use my bicycle more often than on early weekends morning when there is little traffic. I want to take my daughter to school on a bicycle, to go to work on my bicycle but there are two major obstacles. One, you have to compete with heavy and often dangerous traffic because the city does not have routs for bikes and you are not allow to use sidewalks. Second, you cannot park your bike anywhere except for a few spaces a half a mile from I need to go. When you take into account how huge London is and how little there is for normal, average bikers (not the strong bikers who go fast between cars and lorries) who want to use their bikes, London’s talk on being bicycle friendly is not very convincing. And putting a child on my bike on a busy road is too dangerous as well. Did I also mention that our huge building’s lift is too small for a bicycle to fit in and that I need to open five very heavy fire doors on the way to my flat on the fourth floor while holding my bike on my shoulder?
12. Fiona Liosi | 01.13.09
I would love to see this happening in Australia, particularly in the CBD of Melbourne. It is such a shame that the Asian countries are now turning to diesal fuelled alternatives to delivery whilst we are now looking to them for the solutions they have long held for transportation.
What an excellent initiative and I do hope it takes off world wide. Forgive me for being cynical but if and when it does catch on I can see the oil cartels buying the patents in due time in order to stop the rise of efficient means of transportation that are fuel free. See “who killed the electric car” for an example.
13. Ray Popp | 01.17.09
Super idea! I can attest to biking being good for getting into shape. Has to be good for the planet as well. Traffic can be problematic. Ray
14. Robert McWilliams | 04.01.09
This would be great, f cities had room for more bike lanes..and rail lines..and subways…
While this may be occasionally practical, it also sounds like the kind of idea that would come out of an Amsterdam “Coffee Shop”. A “fun way” to massively increase the labor required to ship goods won’t last. A good result, though, could be the prioritizing and paring down needed in the ordering process.
15. Lorelei | 05.19.09
It’s nothing more than a backwards becak. They have been around in Indonesia for centuries moving people and more. Google Becak…
16. Joe | 06.15.09
The original part of United Parcel was a bicycle messenger company so once again, what’s new is old.
17. Jim | 07.05.09
Has anyone in favor of this coolie transportation seen an old Rickshaw “driver.” Puhlease. This is a fantasy of people who have no idea what it means to work, manually, for 8 hours a day, 30 years.
The ignorance about life expressed by so many of the posters to this article confirms for me a correlation in the decline of Monitor journalism with those who read the Monitor.
18. Really | 07.19.09
Jim, you sound a little bit like an old man, a little to set in his ways. Ways change. There are already many communities around the country that are changing their infrastructure for biking. In these same communities there are business owners and employees who make sure that bicycling is a major consideration with regard to scheduling and logistics. Additionally, telecommuting is emerging as more and more businesses adapt to a web environment rather than just using the web as a single tool. People who work from home are less concerned with “commuting” and often choose to live near essential businesses and recreation sources.
Sure, there are plenty of places where this is not the trend, but trends spread exponentially, especially when people realize the clear benefits of living less and less with a car.
I want to see more of this. And yes, I have in fact worked a job where I was on my bike 8 hours/day. I’ve never been in such good shape in my life, both mentally and physically.
19. Allen Fuller | 08.05.09
Jim, what DOES it mean to work 8 hours a day, manually (but with electric assist, in this case) for 30 years?
One thing it means is a much healthier body, more fitness, more energy, and fewer medical bills.
Before you go saying I’m in fantasy land, I’ve done plenty of manual labor, in 3rd world country conditions. It’s exhausting but fulfilling at the same time, and I’ve never felt healthier. I also had no car and biked everywhere during college, in Michigan, rain or snow. Gave my brain a chance to rest from studies and work, and kept me fit. Also made me sleep very soundly for the few hours I did get to sleep.
I know it’s so easy to get in the habit of just hopping in the car to go everywhere; I do it myself now even for trips I could ride. But we only have to look around at the epidemic of obesity to see there is something amiss in this kind of lifestyle.
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1. Juliet Swannell | 05.24.08
I love this story. Is this happening in Australia too? I know lots of people who would consider riding a bicycle to work if the roads were easier to negotiate i.e. safe for cyclists.