Bikes have a long history here as delivery vehicles. It all began in 1992 when we first started using a cargo bike to deliver Organic foods in town. Twenty-five years later, in 2017, we delivered more than 300,000 pounds of food to our Eugene customers by bike—two custom-made yellow Cargo Tri-Haulers hitched up to matching electric assist trailers, carrying up to 1100 pounds at a time. With 45 in-town customers, our bike delivery team once outperformed many of our out-of-town truck routes in terms of pounds delivered.
Currently, we partner with Pedaler's Express, who make our bike deliveries once a week to our downtown-based customers. PedEx also uses a Tri-Hauler built right here in Eugene by Human Powered Machines. For us, the beauty of local bike delivery is that it seems the appropriate scale for these organic food deliveries in Eugene's urban core where everyone wants less congestion, less waste, and more connectedness and healthy transportation.
When it comes to making personal transportation decisions, cycling can be an inexpensive means of getting around as well as good physical exercise. So bicycle commuting offers a promise of health, lower environmental impacts, economic benefits, easier parking and other quality of life benefits—potentially offsetting some of the risks and inconveniences inherent in cycling. A person choosing to bike as their form of transportation must take into consideration their personal abilities, travel distance, safety, security, increased travel time, impact to personal hygiene, exposure to inclement weather, and load-carrying limitations.
Many of our AMAZING coworkers at Hummingbird choose to bike to work regularly. Our birds who bike to work are offered an indoor, secure space to park and showers to reset themselves if the ride is long or arduous. When asked what our bike commuters like about riding to work they have a lot to say.
Biking to work gives me time to get ready for my day and then decompress before getting home. It's nice to enjoy an activity that I did so much as a child, it brings back that childlike excitement and joy. I prefer this over driving any day! ~Becka
I love the ride itself - such a pleasant diversion from the challenges of the day. It's also great to not worry about where I'll park. ~Boyd
I love getting 30 minutes to listen to podcasts! With one earbud in, of course, safety first! ~Chelsea
For me, It's the feeling that I'm not weighed down by gravity. Bike riding is the closest I've come to flapping my wings and leaving the ground whenever I want. Leaning into the turns, popping over bumps, zoomin', when was the last time you zoomed? It makes me feel like I could just keep on riding into the next town, and then into the next... I just love that I get to do it every day. I am always smiling when I get to work! It's good for the earth and all its inhabitants too. ~Livin'
Riding to and from work is a perfect way for me to decompress after work and wake up before work! I also love that it allows me to slow down and see the place I live in at a different pace. ~Christina
On a bike my lens on life shifts. I see, hear, smell, and move differently. I feel I become another creature. It is such a groovy place to inhabit!!! ~Emily
I like feeling out of breath, a little sweaty, and fully alive. I am fully immersed in each season around me, sometimes a gentle mist on my face, or the cold of the wind and rain on my jeans, or a cool breeze coming off of the river on a hot day. ~Emma
It is almost always easier, faster, and more convenient for me to bike to/from work than it would be to drive. It’s also way easier to find a place to park a bike 😎 plus in the nice weather times it is fun to head to Oakshire/Wildcraft/ just out for a stroll on the ol’ aluminum pony, etc. after work. ~Dana
For these intrepid folks, biking seems to scratch an itch, making the choice to bike all that much easier.