Deliveroo - are they listenning?

Deliveroo - the company that employs motorists who don't care about invading cycle facilities,



particularly ASLs and cycle lanes.



Also seen bypassing other traffic rules...



Well, there has recently been a return to employing cyclists.



Also, they have adopted these backpacks which means the last few yards can be completed on foot.



Does this mean the company has been listening to recent criticism of the behavior of their motorcyclists?

The Big Commute Result

This morning was the Love Your Bike/Bike Month Manchester Big Commuter Challenge.

Five people set off from the car park of Crumpsall Green Methodist Church at 8am to show how different forms of transport compare.

Manchester City Council's leader, Sir Richard Leese rode his bike, Pavol Gajdos of Manchester Cycle Deliveries pedaled his cargo bike, Helen Rimmer from Friends of the Earth caught the bus, Charlotte Cox Transport reporter for Manchester Evening News took the tram, and Rob Raikes went by car.



Photograph from Love Your Bike

There was, however, a bit of a problem with navigation at the start, and Richard ended up giving the other participants directions...

Not sure this is entirely fair. Think I'm the only " competitor " that lives in Crumpsall. Having to give them directions!
— Sir Richard Leese (@SirRichardLeese) June 20, 2014

Getting the low down on local bus routes, thanks @SirRichardLeese ! #Crumpsall #BikeMonthMcr pic.twitter.com/FYX80Km3kn
— Helen Rimmer (@HelenJqRimmer) June 20, 2014

Meantime, in Albert Square we were making preparations for the arrival of the participants.



We got somewhat caught out by the sudden arrival of Richard and Pavol only 14 minutes later.



Then the waiting began...



Meantime Pavol delivered his package to Cllr Chris Paul



and Richard took the opportunity to try out Pavol's cargo bike.



It was another 23 minutes before Charlotte appeared,



followed one minute later by Helen,



and Rob finally arrived a further 5 minutes later.



The final result.



There then followed lots of photos for the press



and one last chance to try out Pavol's cargo bike.



Sir Richard Leese has already written about his experience of taking part on The Leader's Blog, Love your Bike have a report on their web site and Charlotte Cox has covered the event in the Manchester Evening News.

There more information about Pavol and his cargo bike on his web site wagl.co.uk.

Manchester Cycle Deliveries

Manchester has a new cycle delivery company aiming to change the way goods are delivered in the city..

Manchester Cycle Deliveries is based just a few minutes' ride from Piccadilly Station, a location chosen to enable "last mile" delivery in the city centre by bicycle using modern cargo bikes, carrying loads up to 180kgs.



The new enterprise has been set up by Pavol Gajdos who founded Manchester Bike Hire (pic above) and Richard Armitage, Founding Director at European Cycle Logistics Federation (Pic bottom right).



The prospect of seeing more big cargo bikes out on the streets of Manchester is pretty exciting.

There will be more about this as the company gets into gear...

Cycle logistics: the final link in the chain

Some nice Cargo Bike Pictures from a recent conference

Observations from Amsterdam - Machines

Amsterdam is not just a place of standard upright bicycles.

The load carrier is quite common and often carries passengers.







Trikes are somewhat rarer, this one looked rather well used.





And this lovely handcycle was locked up on the opposite side of the road. Yes the seat is made of wood!

The Coffee Cranks Cooperative Cargo Bike

Cycling up Liverpool Road today I came across this wonderful machine on it's first day out. Rider Zygmunt Wysocki built this machine with his dad and his business partner "without whom the project would not make it out of our garage."



Today's job was a house move, the machine was loaded with pots and pans and other household goods. However, as the name suggests, the aim is eventually to sell coffee. Though they may end up building more cargo bikes....



More details of the build are available on the Coffee Cranks Cooperative Facebook page.