Airborne Express loads parcels directly onto tricycles at its lower Manhattan distribution facility. Photo: Bill Waltzer

Working Models in NYC

Two delivery companies have done just this. Airborne Express, the third largest overnight package service in the U.S., uses 150 tricycles [3] made by Queens-based Worksman Cycle Company (the leading U.S. manufacturer of utility cycles, and supplier to Fortune 500 companies including GM, Ford, Exxon, who use bicycles extensively in factories and warehouses). [4] These “trikes” are housed in Airborne's three Manhattan distribution facilities, where they are loaded indoors directly from trucks via conveyor belts, then ridden to their destinations. Because the trikes get so much hard use around town, making them less than shiny, they're currently unmarked; as of late 1992, however, Airborne and Worksman were developing a new custom-designed fleet with weather-proof, dent-resistant, lockable boxes, and the Airborne logo prominently displayed.

The delivery cycles each save an estimated $20,000 a year by displacing vans. According to Bob Stetser, Airborne's Manhattan station manager, the trikes' only drawback is that one or two get stolen each year. “Normally we get the bike back,” he says, “but we never see the freight that was in the box.” Still, he reports that Airborne is pleased: “You don't have to park, you don't get tickets, and you save a lot of money.”

Human-powered utility vehicle fleet of Five-Star Courier Co. carries loads up to 200 pounds through midtown Manhattan. Photo: Bill Waltzer

Manhattan-based Five-Star Courier, which calls itself “the messenger service with an environmental conscience,” added five delivery cycles to its fleet of conventional bicycles and vans in 1990. [5] These sleek, eye-catching bicycles, designed and built by HPV innovator Jan Vander Tuin, [6] remove the stigma from delivery cycles, proving that they needn't be heavy, clunky or hard to ride. The cycles are no wider than mountain bikes, and their wheelbases are only 8 inches longer than a standard 10-speed, yet the aerodynamic fiberglass boxes mounted in front of the seat can carry 200-pound loads.

Vander Tuin fitted the 65- to 70-pound cycles with shifting and braking components and tubing worthy of a racing bike, with details like an extra-long seat post and handlebar stem to allow for drivers of varying heights, dual steering linkage for flexibility, and five-speed derailleurs. [7] According to Five-Star's senior messenger Glen Pierce, “the bike is fast and maneuverable....The heavier the load, the more the bike grips the road.” [8] The Charrette art supply service's Providence, RI, branch, has been using Vander Tuin's design since 1990. Several small businesses on the West Coast, including a ravioli manufacturer, are using the design as well. Vander Tuin is also custom-designing trikes for a California-based greenhouse and several local papers.

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