(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
Portland-based B-Line has stood the test of time. And they also stand as an excellent illustration of how pedal-powered cargo trikes can have a positive, climate-friendly impact on urban freight delivery.
In 2020, the B-Line crew pedaled their fleet of electric-assisted trikes a total of 573,160 miles. That’s just one of the eye-popping stats in the company’s just-released annual impact report (PDF). The company launched in 2009 and moved their headquarters to the central eastside in 2015. Over the past decade, co-founder and current CEO Franklin Jones has stayed true to the company’s mission. They don’t just deliver freight (everything from bread to sports drinks), they’ve expanded to benefit the community in many other ways.
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Their core business is last-mile freight delivery via their 600-lb capacity trikes, but they also do warehousing for small vendors and help promote brands on the sides of their cargo vehicles. In addition, they launched a partnership last year to deliver CSA shares to customers of two local farms. A partnership with Whole Foods Market allowed them to save over 21,000 pounds of food from the trash and deliver nearly 18,000 meals to people in need.
Here are a few other notable figures from the 2020 “impact report”:
– B-Line now serves 255 business, educational institutions and nonprofits.
– They avoided pumping 807,065 lbs of CO2 into the atmosphere (that’s the equivalent of flying round trip from Portland to New York City 516 times).
– They saved 39,944 gallons of gas and delivered 351,948 pounds of food and other freight.
After a modest start with two trikes in 2009, B-Line now has 14 trikes and 17 employees (and is looking to hire more). Learn more about the company at B-LinePDX.com.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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