WHO RIDES CARGO / COURIER & DELIVERY

Courier & delivery on cargo bikes

Moving parcels, freight, meals and post by bike is the oldest use of a cargo bike and still the largest. These are businesses that took a van off the road, or never bought one, and run rounds on two or three wheels instead. Most are small, many are co-operatives, and between them they cover dense city centres where a van is slower anyway.

The economics are unusual in that they are legible. A courier knows what a round costs, what a van costs, and what parking and access restrictions cost. That is why this is the trade where the switch happens first and where the operators can tell you, precisely, what changed.

What that means for kit is volume and durability over comfort. A round is the same route every day, in every weather, loaded to the limit. The pages below record what these businesses actually ride and fit, checked one by one against their own sites.