(Photo by NashCO Photography, courtesy New Seasons Market)
Earth Day seems like a fitting day to announce the latest evolution in Portland’s cargo bike delivery ecosystem.
Pedal-powered freight delivery company B-Line has partnered with New Seasons Markets on a pilot project dubbed “Green Wheels” to deliver products to their stores.
Here’s more from an announcement by New Seasons:
The pilot program currently serves the Hawthorne and Division stores, with plans to expand to Concordia and Arbor Lodge, and Northwest Portland’s soon-to-launch Slabtown location.
A small selection of vendors is participating in the pilot, with potential for the roster to grow…
As for the near future, B-Line plans to open a North Portland hub to service the ultra-dense Killingsworth, Alberta and Mississippi neighborhoods, and will potentially take root within Ecotrust’s newly acquired warehouse in southeast Portland, The Redd, slated to operate as an urban food hub…
The idea is for B-Line to establish local distribution hubs that will accept products from New Seasons vendors. Then B-Line employees will pedal the freight to the individual stores.
Since the company’s launch in 2009, B-Line founder Franklin Jones has built his company into a viable and successful last-mile cargo delivery operation. His fleet of electrified cargo trikes can carry up to 600 pounds per load and currently deliver to over 200 local businesses, saving tens of thousands of truck trips every year.
Advertisement
New Seasons says the partnership will save their 150 local vendors — many of whom are small start-ups — from having to drive around in order to deliver their products to the company’s 14 metro area markets. “Streamlining the delivery process could mean hundreds of car trips avoided and less congestion on cramped urban streets,” New Seasons says, “along with freeing up a healthy chunk of precious time.”
This effort reminds us of what Rolling Oasis is doing with their planned expansion into new areas. That company is trying to raise money to establish delivery hubs in underserved neighborhoods. (Learn more about their plans on this fantastic recent episode of The Sprocket Podcast.)
Local delivery of food by cargo bike has so many upsides for our local economy, health, and planet. Congrats to these companies for seeing the future and working to do things differently — and better!
We’re following all the local cargo bike news, stay tuned for more coverage.
Thanks for reading.
BikePortland has served this community with independent community journalism since 2005. We rely on subscriptions from readers like you to survive. Your financial support is vital in keeping this valuable resource alive and well.
Please subscribe today to strengthen and expand our work.
Awesome!
B-Line and New Seasons – a match made in heaven.
Great to see!
Yes a good match…who would have known such could happen in the future when Natures NW was bought out.
The only improvement I can think of is if these freight bikes had a great mix tape sound system enlivening the bike lane as they make deliveries…better than turkey in the straw…plus was they passed there was the scent of beer brewing or other sweet urban aromas.
Trading air pollution for noise pollution? Please, no blaring sound system.
Totally agree with sound systems on bikes being um, antithetical to the zeitgeist. But for these guys, being basically trucks, maybe a nice ice cream truck-like tune, not loud, and def not the ice cream song, would serve to alert traffic and PEDs. Maybe some Scott Joplin ragtime…..
One winter I delivered packages for UPS by bike around Arbor lodge. Being flat certainly helps! Love seeing companies embrace this service. Whenever I see a B-Line bike go by I feel like the world is getting a little better.
Earth Day trivia:
http://barbwire.com/2015/04/22/flashback-1977-earth-day-co-founder-composts-dead-girlfriend/
Glad Franklin is kicking ass over there at B-Line. I think their new Marketing Director Dorothy Mitchell must have had a play in this.
I would love to see a follow-up about the details of these trikes (or what tech other cargo bike businesses are running now.) How is insurance (liability, medical, uninsured) with electric bikes and hired drivers (business vs personal?) I’ve been told conflicting things by different insurance agents about whether or not electric bikes are an exception to the already-murky issues around bike coverage under auto insurance policies.
“…the ultra-dense Killingsworth, Alberta and Mississippi neighborhoods”
LOL.
MAXIMUM speed is 9mph with 600lb load. Wow.
It’s classic tortoise and hare … average traffic speeds in Manhattan have been between 7 and 9 mph for years. Portland may be a little quicker, but slow and steady wins the race.
Imagine they could hit 12 mph?! Which they probably can when not fully loaded.
This is a real testament to matching the vehicle to the payload – indeed, the load is heavier than the vehicle – and so the energy consumption and speed are more sensitive to variations in weight. Nonetheless, by using vehicles of appropriate scale, energy efficiency is intrinsically quite high.
There is an essence of truthfulness here as compared to the excessive energy available from oil, leading to just pressing on the gas pedal a little harder when one encounters heavy loads and hills in an over-sized, fossil-fueled vehicle.
Disclaimer: our company builds similar trikes.
B-line, can you deliver my new 600 lb. refrigerator/freezer to my mansion on Skyline Blvd?
Hope the drivers are careful with their knees so they don’t have problems. Electric assist or even gasoline motor assist could come in handy for hills.
We are excited to be partnering with New Season’s on this project and love hearing about the work Rolling Oasis is doing! Thank you PDX for the support… more news on the horizon!