“An illegal e-bike is the rational response to that pay model”: Pedal Me founder ‘congratulates’ Deliveroo for being “the last people in London to notice 30mph delivery bikes”; Trump praised for scrapping “those awful bike lanes” + more on the live blog
“An illegal e-bike is the rational response to that pay model”: Cargo bike delivery company founder ‘congratulates’ Deliveroo for being “the last people in London to notice the 30mph delivery bikes”
Delivery riders, and their preferred mode of transport, have been in the news quite a bit in recent weeks.
Yesterday, in case you missed it, we took a detailed and probably unnecessarily deep dive into Restore Britain’s new ‘regulatory framework for commercial e-bikes’, a confusing policy riddled with contradictions which only served to make it glaringly obvious that Rupert Lowe doesn’t actually know what an e-bike is.
In any case, Rupert and Restore’s bid to “take back our streets” from delivery e-bikes, whether they’re illegal or not, comes after Deliveroo announced its own somewhat belated crackdown on the use of modified, dangerous bikes by its self-employed riders.
As part of its new Ride Safe campaign, the company also called on the government to prohibit the sale of unsafe e-bike conversion kits, while tracking its riders and banning them from the platform if they consistently register high speeds during deliveries.
Deliveroo, one of the UK’s largest food delivery firms, announced that it will partner with e-bike companies including Port, Zoomo, Otto Scooters, and Eskuta to provide riders with a legal alternative. Riders will receive onboarding guidance, and the company will run rider engagement events with councils, police, and fire services to highlight concerns from both sides.
And the response to this initiative from other members of the UK’s bike-based delivery industry? A slow, sarcastic clap, basically.
Following the launch of the Ride Safe campaign, Ben Knowles, the co-founder of Pedal Me, the London-based e-cargo bike delivery company, took to LinkedIn to ‘congratulate’ Deliveroo on their belated contribution to safety and the wider e-bike delivery sector.
> “Adrian, you’re wrong!” Pedal Me’s co-founder on cargo bikes
“Huge congratulations to Deliveroo, who this week became the last people in London to notice the 30mph delivery bikes,” Knowles wrote.
“And credit where it’s due: they’ve now said it out loud. Their policy director has told The Times that some of their riders are on illegal e-bikes, and that they’re piloting technology to catch them using their own delivery data. Groundbreaking stuff.
“Who else had already spotted them? Everyone on the pavement. Everyone behind the wheel. The London Fire Brigade, putting out the battery fires. The Met, who seized more than 2,500 illegal e-bikes and e-scooters in the first seven months of this year. Basically anyone with eyes.”
Ouch.
Knowles continued: “The riders aren’t doing this for fun. An illegal e-bike is the rational response to that pay model.
“Deliveroo’s solution? Ban the riders. Ask the government to ban the kits. The pay model that put them on those bikes stays exactly where it is. Meanwhile, the costs land on everyone else: fires in people’s homes, danger on our streets, police time, and a legitimate e-bike industry tarred by association.
“Every fix works around the same fact: the model depends on classifying riders as self-employed contractors, and that comes first. Ahead of common sense. Ahead of public safety. Ahead of the risk of modern slavery in the supply chain.
“The problem is the model. It will stay the problem until these riders are employees, so they can be paid fairly, kept safe, and the companies that profit from their work contribute to society like every other employer does.”
This isn’t the first time, of course, that the Pedal Me CEO has laid into the big multinationals and their questionable employment practices.
Last year, when fellow e-cargo bike delivery firm Zedify went into administration, Knowles highlighted the challenges faced by smaller firms when going up against their less scrupulous, gig economy rivals.
“In a sector where you’re competing with tax-dodging, modern slavery using competitors, you need to be super lean with the vast majority of staff hours focused on revenue generating activities,” he said.
Pedal and Post CEO Christopher Benton also said at the time: “This industry is difficult to make money in and when you’re a more ethical employer, labour costs are higher. Although cargo bikes are more cost-effective to operate, it’s a fine balance to make it profitable.”
“Can’t believe this cyclist flew through an empty zebra crossing”
While we’re on the subject of those pesky, dangerous e-bikes in London – oh, hold on a second…
Well, at least they’re not completely blocking the bike lane, that’s a plus.
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@mdavidford Too right. We were better off lapping water from our cupped palms. No arguments over the washing up
@Old fat man on a bike Deport... er, sorry, I mean... 'remigrate' the Beaker Folk - coming over 'ere with their weird pots...
@kingleo Jumpers for goalposts. Wicket chalked on a creosoted fence on a small grassed area. Tennis ball for Dukes cherry. Fielding at deep mid on in the middle of the estate road. Taking a steepling catch while watching for cars in your peripheral vision. Interruption to play when Carol Burke walks past on the far pavement. Mrs Spencer getting annoyed with the ball landing in her roses. Tea interval, Tonibell's ice cream van is here - Lager and lime iced lollies - Ice Cream Screwball - Flick spit at each other with the plastic spoons. Marvellous!
I used it last winter for my training and found it to be perfectly usable, nothing flashy, but with useful workouts and it was easy enough to create a few new workouts for myself. The closest equivalent would be TrainerRoad and it's a YMMV thing, for me ictrainer passed the good enough test and for a respectable price. The best thing is that there's a constant stream of updates and bug fixes, so developers are fully engaged with it. I'll be starting my winter routine next week using ictrainer.
@Old fat man on a bike Lucy is neither human nor necessarily an ancestor of any human. But we are indeed all descended from African humans.
No wonder. Cannondale stopped feeling ‘American’ since the ugly dropstay supersix came out and all the other homogenised releases afterwards. The sinewy Synapse was neutered and the crazy innovative mtb tech watered down into a sea of sameness. The bikes look like the output of a very corporate European brand now, competent but boring, and this explains it. Same for Santa Cruz. This is sad.
Restore Britain to what? Caves, mud huts, the Romans, Viking or Normans or just some convenient cut off point in history to suit his racist views. Remember your great great etc grandmother for everyone on the planet was Lucy being the oldest human remains ever found which was in Africa which means we all have black DNA.
@kingleo Lucky you to get to ride up it though, it's banned except one day a year now, and then only 300 riders allowed. Gone in for the ballot a couple of times but no luck.
@Rendel Harris: After I watched the Tour a few years ago on Puy de Dôme (it was very hot), I got to the bottom and looked at my tubs; they had rolled over so they were sticky side up because I was leaning one way on the descent all the time!
"Take back our streets"— does he mean from cars? I can remember when I was a boy; we played cricket and football in the streets.