Bicycle Austin forum

AusTexMurf

Member

From: South Austin

Registered: 2008-11-21

Posts: 439

UPS Begins Delivering Packages via E-Trike in Portland

UPS Begins Delivering Packages via E-Trike in Portland

Deliveries by e-trike: Now happening in Portland. Photo: Bike Portland
By Angie Schmitt    Dec 8, 2016

"Delivery trucks are terrible for city streets, polluting the air, blocking bike lanes, endangering pedestrians and cyclists. But cities need the goods they carry.

One way around the problem of big trucks is to divide deliveries into smaller loads, carried with smaller vehicles. Jonathan Maus at Bike Portland reports on an encouraging development on that front: UPS is piloting the use of an electric-assist trike for deliveries. There were already independent companies using trikes for deliveries in Portland, and the UPS move suggests larger companies may want to get in on the action..."

This is good news for Portland and for the future in many US cities. As the article says these are common in Europe so it's good to see them coming to the US.

An interesting bit is the cost savings from avoiding parking tickets. Perhaps a bit of encouragement to report those who violate bike lanes and maybe change their behavior more than just staying out of the bikeways.

In 2013 UPS was paying NYC over $4 million per year in parking tickets and Fedex nearly double that.

"Just in the first three months of this year, FedEx racked up $1.8 million in parking violations. A spokesman for UPS said the Atlanta-based delivery company was also paying the city more than $1 million a quarter for parking infractions...."
Parking tickets: All in the cost of doing business

A million here and a million there and pretty soon we're talking real money.

Interesting bit of UPS history:

UPS WAS FOUNDED BY TWO TEENAGERS WITH ONE BICYCLE AND $100 BORROWED FROM A FRIEND
June 29, 2010    Daven Hiskey
"Today I found out UPS was started by two teenagers with one bicycle and $100 borrowed from a friend.

The date was August 28, 1907 and the two kids were 18 year old Claude Ryan and 19 year old Jim Casey.  The two had one bike between them and $100 (about $2400 today) borrowed from a friend to found the “American Messenger Company” in Seattle, Washington.  The company was initially run in a hotel basement at Second Avenue and Main Street in Seattle...."

Last edited by AusTexMurf (2016-12-15 06:38:15)