by Andy Lambert, Peace Coffee Bike Courier

There is something beautiful about physical labor that makes the soul rest easy at the end of a long day. It’s not just fatigue and lactic acid settling in the joints, it’s emotional. I’ve come to this realization since I made the switch from coordinating events and outreach here at Peace Coffee, to joining Josh in the bike delivery department last August. About this time last year, we began taking a hard look at our bike delivery program to see what could be improved, and how it could become a more sustainable position for the person/people pedaling everyday, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

We conducted a fairly thorough analysis of our bike delivery program over the course of about 6 months. We used mapping software, conducted surveys with various types of accounts that receive bike delivery, and we held staff-wide and departmental brainstorming sessions to clearly articulate, "Why does Peace Coffee and its customers value bike delivery?" Our analysis revealed opportunities to grow the bike delivery service territory, and we heard overwhelmingly positive remarks about our chosen method of local delivery. We also acknowledged that Minneapolis and St. Paul have created excellent bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure which makes bicycle delivery all the more appealing. Lastly, one thing that sparked this analysis was the observation that the trailer loads where getting exponentially bigger every year and that the position was becoming unsustainable for one person alone. We decided that adding another fulltime bike courier would help in many ways.

Our analysis also revealed some unknowns that would have been helpful to know from the start: average daily miles ridden and average pounds per day delivered. These questions then triggered other questions like: How does weather impact average speed? How does the time of year (i.e. season, holidays, etc.) impact the size of loads being bike delivered? How much CO2 are we off-setting using bike delivery versus automobile delivery?

I’ve been collecting data since September 17th (the day I bought a computer for my delivery bike). Here’s a breakdown by month of average daily miles, pounds towed, average speed and average daily temperatures. *November is missing because I was doing the van delivery routes while we were in the process of hiring a new van delivery driver.

To date (April 9, 2008), I have logged 2,119.17 miles ridden and 32,093 pounds of coffee delivered. From a carbon footprint perspective, how does this translate into making an argument in favor of using bike delivery in the city versus using a conventional delivery vehicle? I looked at www.climatecrisis.net for some CO2 emissions calculations. Here’s what I found.

From 25 weeks of collecting data, riding the same routes every week, I can safely estimate that I will bike approximately 4,408 miles in 52 weeks (2,119 mi./25 weeks = X mi./52 weeks where X = 4,408 mi.). The calculator on the website allows you to choose the year, make and model of any vehicle. You then enter your estimated average miles per year of the vehicle from which you wish to calculate CO2 emissions. I chose to calculate for three vehicles that are typically used in an urban area for making deliveries: Chevrolet Conversion Van, Dodge Caravan and the GMC Savana Conversion Van (all 2006 models). Here are the estimated CO2 emissions after 4,408 mi. for these vehicles:

Chevrolet Conversion Van – 2.75 tons of CO2
Dodge Caravan – 1.9 tons of CO2
GMC Savana Conversion Van – 2.75 tons of CO2

If you figure that Josh and I are biking roughly the same amount every week, this adds up to tons, literally tons of CO2 that we are preventing the release of into the atmosphere. Keep in mind that these figures are based on 2006 models and probably have better gas mileage than the older models. Even though the numbers listed here are strictly estimations of CO2 emissions, they verify the idea that using bicycles for transportation is an environmentally conscious way to move around the city.

We at Peace Coffee hope that our mantra of “Pedal not Petrol” inspires other companies to consider adding bicycle delivery to their business model. So far, we’ve inspired a couple of our comrades in the Fair Trade coffee world to do it! Who’s next?

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