Cycle mail delivery scheme.

John said:

My council is thinking of setting up a cycle mail delivery scheme, between
local offices. Has anyone had any experience of this, equipment/clothing
etc, any information will be most welcome.

The Royal Mail use delivery bicycles in lots of places, usually Pashley
Mailstars, sold commercially as the Pashley Pronto. They may be able to
help. If a consultancy budget is available, then potentially you could get a
cycle courier firm (or even individual couriers) to help out with details of
dispatching and employment practices.

Maybe even Pashley or other workbike suppliers could put you in touch with
previous customers who have done similar things, in anticipation of a large
sale of equipment.

Regards,

-david

"John" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My council is thinking of setting up a cycle mail delivery scheme,

between

Quoted message said:

local offices. Has anyone had any experience of this,

equipment/clothing

Quoted message said:

etc, any information will be most welcome.

I think the cycle couriers in London have a web site, which
presumably you could google to get contacts and information.
Alternatively, go the Duke of York in Clerkenwell, on a Friday night,
which I assume is still the courier hangout, and ask around.

Condor seems to be the best thought of bike shop, and I think they do
a catalogue. Obviously that would be pushing their products, but it
might give an idea of current thinking.

The only constant among couriers seem to be that they carry things in
those big courier bags, which are higher tech than they look, to be
comfortable. The bags shorten time at pickup/drop-off points, and
avoid risk of package theft. My daughter, an ex bike courier, even
uses one for general carrying stuff around on a bike

You could talk to your local postman, too.

Much might depend on local conditions - terrain, distances, stuff
being carried, crime rate etc.

I envision a smart official uniform, and a smart official bike - a
fixie, of course.

Jeremy Parker

David Nutter said:

John said:

My council is thinking of setting up a cycle mail delivery scheme, between
local offices. Has anyone had any experience of this, equipment/clothing
etc, any information will be most welcome.

The Royal Mail use delivery bicycles in lots of places, usually Pashley
Mailstars, sold commercially as the Pashley Pronto. They may be able to
help.

While that would be okay for your actual postie doing a round, for bulk
delivery between local offices it would probably struggle. However,
Pashley do rather more serious load carrying trikes, the Loadstar and
Freightmate.

Rather faster and easier to thread through traffic than either of those
would be a Burrows 8 Freight.
http://www.velovision.co.uk/mag/issue9/8freight.pdf has details. The
Pashley trikes will carry more in terms of both bulk and weight, but if
the 8 is enough (50 Kg load day to day use not including rider) I'd
think it's speed and flexibility would make it the better tool here.

For more weight/bulk than the Pashleys, something like a Brox quad would
do the job.

Also, trailers can be used with most bikes acting as a tug and there's
no shortage of selection. They work well for small loads, but once
you're into wheel-barrow full quantities the purpose built freighters
would IMHO do a better job.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

John said:

My council is thinking of setting up a cycle mail delivery scheme, between
local offices. Has anyone had any experience of this, equipment/clothing
etc, any information will be most welcome.

How much mail and how bulky is it?

I don't know whether I would recomend one of bikes Royal Mail use
http://www.pashley.co.uk/products/mailstar.html

My thinking would be to get a good trailer or a freight bike and a
waterproof bag.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 11:55:39 GMT someone who may be "John"
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

My council is thinking of setting up a cycle mail delivery scheme, between
local offices.

So, how many offices, how far apart, hills, times of operation? All
important before a useful reply can be given.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

Peter Clinch twisted the electrons to say:

Quoted message said:

While that would be okay for your actual postie doing a round, for bulk
delivery between local offices it would probably struggle.

Well it would depend on your definition of bulk really! Whilst the tray
on the front is only meant to be carrying 16kg, I can assure you they can
survive much more than that on a daily basis! <grins> There's also an
optional pair of panniers[1] for the back, plus the possibility of a
rucksack/courier bag on the rider.

Depending on the size/shape of what the OP wants to transport then, like
you suggested, a 8-Freight might be a better choice. Albeit, a more
expensive one.

[1] I think the rear rack may be thicker than is normal, so regular
panniers might be a problem?
--
These opinions might not even be mine ...
Let alone connected with my employer ...

in message <[email hidden]>, Phil Cook

(') said:

John said:

My council is thinking of setting up a cycle mail delivery scheme,
between local offices. Has anyone had any experience of this,
equipment/clothing etc, any information will be most welcome.

How much mail and how bulky is it?

I don't know whether I would recomend one of bikes Royal Mail use
http://www.pashley.co.uk/products/mailstar.html

My thinking would be to get a good trailer or a freight bike and a
waterproof bag.

And how hilly is the area? If it's all flat a heavy work bike like the
mailstar will be fine. Otherwise... not.

One benefit of a BikeHod type trailer http://www.bikehod.com/ is that
when delivering to an office building you can park the bike outside and
wheel the trailer in.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

'You cannot put "The Internet" into the Recycle Bin.'

Alistair Gunn said:

Peter Clinch twisted the electrons to say:

Quoted message said:

While that would be okay for your actual postie doing a round, for bulk
delivery between local offices it would probably struggle.

Quoted message said:

Well it would depend on your definition of bulk really!

About wheelbarrow-full is where a bike like an 8 Freight will really
score over a standard post-bike.

Quoted message said:

Whilst the tray
on the front is only meant to be carrying 16kg, I can assure you they can
survive much more than that on a daily basis!
<grins> There's also an
optional pair of panniers[1] for the back, plus the possibility of a
rucksack/courier bag on the rider.

It's bulk as well as weight though. The two seater sofa I delivered on
my 8 Freight is well under the weight limits for a post bike, but it
would be "interesting" splitting it into front rack/panniers/bag!
Now, not many people send 2 seater sofas through the post, but they do
send bloody awkward cubic (ish) boxes that don't go into pannniers and
bags and fill your main front rack in one single package.

Rider mounted bags are very good for frequent access (i.e., a postie's
delivery round bag) and/or small items, but they Suck for load
Big/Multiple Stuff at A and remove at B: there's nothing to be gained by
putting the weight on the rider, and if you're bothering with a
specialist bike at all then you might as well use it to avoid doing that.

Quoted message said:

Depending on the size/shape of what the OP wants to transport then, like
you suggested, a 8-Freight might be a better choice. Albeit, a more
expensive one.

There's more to costs than capital though. If you have to do 2 or 3
trips rather than 1 then the time you're wasting will soon cost enough
money to do the job better to start with. Similarly, a Brox might be
better than an 8 for the same reasons. Given the overall cost of the
postal service I think you'd be best getting the right machine for the
job, rather than make do with something that's not really right.

Quoted message said:

[1] I think the rear rack may be thicker than is normal, so regular
panniers might be a problem?

You could easily source something suitable in NL, I'd think, but
panniers are not really good at efficient loading/unloading which is
what this job appears to need. Came out of Tescos on Saturday and a
couple were loading up their panniers. They'd been at it a while
already, I just lifted my crate into the back of the 8 and job done, I
left them still filling corners.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

You could easily source something suitable in NL, I'd think, but
panniers are not really good at efficient loading/unloading which is
what this job appears to need. Came out of Tescos on Saturday and a
couple were loading up their panniers. They'd been at it a while
already, I just lifted my crate into the back of the 8 and job done, I
left them still filling corners.

Thjat is what I like about square load beds. Just load up square crates
and bingo.. you are ready to go.

This is probably what would suit a between sites mail service, a set of
closable crates (possibly able to use security tags as well) would
allow easy and rapid loading from/to the post rooms. You don't want to
be faffing with bags of loose letters on such a service. Each crate
would be labelled with the destination site.

...d

"David Hansen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 11:55:39 GMT someone who may be "John"
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

My council is thinking of setting up a cycle mail delivery scheme, between
local offices.

So, how many offices, how far apart, hills, times of operation? All
important before a useful reply can be given.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

Thanks for the comments so far.
I think the maximum distance between offices is around 7 miles. But how many
stops in between and return trips I don't know as yet.
The hours of operation will be 8.00am to 5.00pm Mon - Fri.

John

On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:07:00 GMT someone who may be "John"
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

I think the maximum distance between offices is around 7 miles. But how many
stops in between and return trips I don't know as yet.

With that information, together with frequency, one start to
determine a "fleet size". Is the intention to only have one person
on a circuit, or a more complicated arrangement?

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

In article <[email hidden]>

Alistair Gunn said:

Peter Clinch twisted the electrons to say:

Quoted message said:

While that would be okay for your actual postie doing a round, for bulk
delivery between local offices it would probably struggle.

Well it would depend on your definition of bulk really! Whilst the tray
on the front is only meant to be carrying 16kg, I can assure you they can
survive much more than that on a daily basis! <grins> There's also an
optional pair of panniers[1] for the back,

I saw a postie with them just the other day - I'm not sure if I've never
seen them before, or just never noticed them.

"David Hansen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:07:00 GMT someone who may be "John"
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

I think the maximum distance between offices is around 7 miles. But how
many
stops in between and return trips I don't know as yet.

With that information, together with frequency, one start to
determine a "fleet size". Is the intention to only have one person
on a circuit, or a more complicated arrangement?

One person on a circuit.

John

John said:

"David Hansen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:07:00 GMT someone who may be "John"
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

I think the maximum distance between offices is around 7 miles. But how
many
stops in between and return trips I don't know as yet.

With that information, together with frequency, one start to
determine a "fleet size". Is the intention to only have one person
on a circuit, or a more complicated arrangement?

Quoted message said:

One person on a circuit.

I think we're at the point where you've got a selection of possible
vehicles outlined and before deciding on which one(s) you'll need the
load breakdown expected in terms of frequency, bulk and weight.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

John said:

"David Hansen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:07:00 GMT someone who may be "John"
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

> I think the maximum distance between offices is around 7 miles. But how
> many
> stops in between and return trips I don't know as yet.
With that information, together with frequency, one start to
determine a "fleet size". Is the intention to only have one person
on a circuit, or a more complicated arrangement?

Quoted message said:

One person on a circuit.

I think we're at the point where you've got a selection of possible
vehicles outlined and before deciding on which one(s) you'll need the load
breakdown expected in terms of frequency, bulk and weight.

Pete.
--

Thanks to everyone.
John

Jeremy Parker said:

The only constant among couriers seem to be that they carry things in
those big courier bags, which are higher tech than they look, to be
comfortable. The bags shorten time at pickup/drop-off points, and
avoid risk of package theft. My daughter, an ex bike courier, even
uses one for general carrying stuff around on a bike

I used one for years to do my paper round: best tool for the job. But
that doesn't appear to be the job in question here, which is lots of
things from A to B rather than a few things from A to B, C, D and E.

If you've got a load of boxes then lifting crates in and out of a flat
load area will be significantly quicker than faffing about putting them
in relatively small bags.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

On Wed, 19 Jul 2006 12:58:13 +0100 someone who may be Peter Clinch
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

If you've got a load of boxes then lifting crates in and out of a flat
load area will be significantly quicker than faffing about putting them
in relatively small bags.

Probably better to use a trailer. Simply wheel it into the office
concerned and load/unload in a suitable place.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54