We’re proud of our partnerships with local businesses to enhance their delivery services by e-bike and also help them be more environmentally-friendly. Our first participant in our E-Bikes for Deliveries program was Zipcourier, formerly Confluence Courier, who now uses their e-bikes regularly for deliveries around the city. Since then, we’ve welcomed several new businesses to the program.
LoDough Bakery, located on the Dairy Block of LoDo, is a small batch storefront that sells tasty pastries. They received their e-bike back in April. With a large portion of their deliveries being close to their location downtown, LoDough was perfect for the program. We also welcomed Flowers on the Vine, a small flower shop with two locations across Denver, to the E-bikes for Deliveries family. Flowers on the Vine employees take frequent trips around the city delivering their gorgeous floral arrangements. Since receiving their e-bikes, both organizations have seen the incredible impact of swapping out a portion of car deliveries with an e-cargo bike.
For LoDough, co-owner Jan Kratzer explains that having an e-bike has been a huge time saver. “We deliver to 12 restaurants around downtown, and I was doing that in my car,” Jan says. “I would even rent Lime bicycles every now and then for the businesses close by.” With the e-bike, there’s less traffic to deal with and no issues with parking. And, it’s convenient to pull the bike right up to LoDough’s storefront to pack up and make a delivery.
Tarah Anthony, owner of Flowers on the Vine, was more than excited when approached with the opportunity to join the e-cargo bikes program. The business sources their flowers and plants locally from farmers, and as a group of employees with a serious green thumb, they always strive to be environmentally conscious. So, participating in the program was an obvious choice for their business and its sustainability efforts—switching to an e-bike means reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It’s also great for visibility, Tarah tells us. Customers notice the team pedaling around town via bike and are delighted. Imagine an e-bike parading through your neighborhood with tons of flowers…sounds amazing, right?
Besides the obvious benefits of delivering via e-bike, there’s also pure enjoyment in getting to hop on a bike during the work day. Tarah and Jan have both been riding bicycles their whole lives, so integrating bikes into their businesses has been a welcome improvement. “It was so much fun to get the bike and get on the road with it,” Jan expresses. “The day we got it just felt like Christmas.” Tarah felt something similar when Flowers on the Vine got their e-bike. “The very first delivery we went to the hospital, and the whole valet was taking photos.” After that first trip to the hospital, Tarah received multiple phone calls about how cool the experience was for hospital patients, visitors, and staff.
On the flip side, delivering via e-bike does come with its challenges. For Flowers on the Vine in particular, they are delivering a unique, but tricky product. Most arrangements need to stay submerged in water and at a certain temperature during delivery, which makes taking the e-bike difficult sometimes. For this reason, along with the constraints of time, they have to keep their e-bike deliveries down to a three-mile radius.
Tarah also cited safety as a concern for her team members. As of right now, only two Flowers on the Vine employees, including Tarah, deliver with the e-bike. The others simply don’t feel confident or safe navigating busy Denver streets as a vulnerable road user. Their City Park West shop is surrounded by very few bike lanes, making it intimidating for folks to hop on the e-bike. Jan, on the other hand, finds LoDough’s downtown location to be quite convenient for bike travel since the implementation of many new protected bike lanes. Jan has been riding his bike downtown for ten years now, and things have changed a lot. Though not without its frustrations—Jan makes note of the many bike lane obstructions he often faces during a bike delivery!
Jan and Tarah have both been able to look back at their e-bike delivery experiences thus far and say it’s been a positive addition to their businesses. “I am just grateful,” Tarah says. “I personally love riding my bike. I got a bike that’s a cruiser 25 years ago and I still have it. Having this be brought as an option for my team is very close to my heart.” Similarly, Jan expresses the impact it has made for him and his team. “We’re super grateful that this program exists because it makes such a difference, especially for a small business.” He notes that a large purchase like an e-bike is no small thing, so having the opportunity to receive one through the E-bikes for Deliveries program has been incredibly rewarding.
We are grateful to Tarah and Jan for their participation in the E-bikes for Deliveries program and for sharing their reflections as business owners delivering by bike. At DSP, we hope this program demonstrates the value of human-scale mobility all across our Denver communities. If you know of a local business that might benefit from utilizing e-cargo bikes for their delivery service, encourage them to reach out to the E-bikes for Deliveries program manager, Terry Breheny, at ebikes@denverstreetspartnership.org to learn more.