Funi wear

We've had some new winter hats made by a cracking British company Funi.

The hats are knitted by actual grannies to your specific criteria - pretty cool (actually pretty hot).

Check Funi out here!

Free Festive Tea Samples

We're teaming up with Trumpers Tea a local loose leaf tea seller (http://www.trumperstea.co.uk/) to deliver some samples to some lucky folk in the HR1-2 area. We'll be dropping them off to people receiving deliveries to their homes.

Mike sampled some tea himself earlier in the week.. Orange Rooibos... very festive.. 

Panto Dames. Charity and Weather

Last week was a good one we were flat out as usual but fitted in a few extra jobs to help a few folk out 

First up Tom and Jordan has a date with the Panto Dame who was switching on the Christmas lights in Hereford, as you can she see was a honey so needed some escorting from some hunky gents.

We also sent a bike down to help out with Herefordshire Council's Charity Congathon

 

And in other news, particularly today the weather has really turned for the season, definitely not perfect cycling weather!

New Pedicab Rider Jordan McQueen!

We think he'll fit right in!

Christmas lights switch on!

This Sunday, we'll be taking the panto cast to switch the lights on!

This screen shot is from our Facebook page:

Talk at Hereford Tech College

We popped up to the college last week to give the business studies course a talk about logistics, was great to be involved.

This screen shot is from our Facebook page.

Talk at Hereford Tech College

Cargo bike on line article

Click Here! Some great comments...

Update on community cargo bike scheme.

So we've finished the consultation on the community cargo bike scheme and it is going to go ahead! This is the summary we just sent out to people who got in touch:

What is the project about?

We want to put cargo bikes in communities for people to use. They can be used to move big loads about without much effort, so you could do the weekly shop, visit the allotment or maybe even do the school run on one!

Why you?

You will have found out about the cargo bike project because we have been consulting people about it. We posted on our company Facebook. We visited 500 homes in the St James area of Hereford and dropped flyers to them. We also held an event in Hereford where people could see the bike and then held a talk about the project at the Courtyard Theatre as part of h:Energy. 

Are we going to launch the community cargo bike programme?

Yes - it is going to happen! A trial and launch of our first one will be in Hereford for the St James Area. If this is a success we will roll the scheme out to other areas in Great Britain and further away if the scheme can work there. 

What was the feedback like?

Totally crazy! - To give you an idea of just how positive it was over 17,000 people saw info we had posted or sent out and we had responses from people all over the world. 5 community groups already want us to input a scheme for them when we are up and running and people from lots of major cities in the UK and abroad welcomed the idea. 

The most important feedback we had was from the targeted area which we sent flyers to and invited to our talks. Of those we have a collection of about 20 people, who are within a radius of 150m of each other, who would regularly use a scheme like this if they had access to it. In addition to those 20 people there are a further 25 people who would like to use the scheme on an ad-hock basis. We also think that when the scheme does launch that it will naturally attract more people to it.

Some cargo bike manufacturing organisations and a representative from the European Cargo Logistics Federation wrote to us to tell us that they see this sort of scheme as a way of making these bikes really accessible to the masses and overcoming a number of things that prevent regular people from using them. 

In addition to this we also had some great practical feedback about launching the scheme. Suggestions were made about a day where people could try the bike in a safe environment and get more familiar with it, we think this is something we will definitely do.

Where are we going to launch it?

The St James area in Hereford, the exact spot is yet to be confirmed.

When will it launch?

We hope by Spring 2013 the bike will officially have somewhere to live, will have a smart online booking system and will be in regular use. However it is likely that we will have the bike a long time before that so hopefully we will have it in use sooner than Spring. We want people to be talking about the scheme and helping us to develop it. It might be that we lend it to a few people for a week or so and get their feedback.

What happens next?

First of all we have to gather all of our funding for the scheme and then we have some work to do. Simply put we need to get a bike, find somewhere for it to live and make an easy way for people to book it out. 

Once all of that is done we should be somewhere near the official launch time and have a product which we will be able deploy locally and then if successful something which we can duplicate in other places.

How can you help?

Most of the stuff is under control at the moment, very important is we find a space where the bike can live somewhere within 200m of HR1 2RB Our hope is we might be able to get the pod the bike will live in on a road instead of a parking space if not it will have to be on private land. We have some ideas, but if you have any ideas about places it could live them we would love to hear them. Other than that, sit tight and you'll get some updates about what we are doing via this email address. 

How can you get other people involved? 

Get their email address to us and we'll put them on this mailing list, or get them to email - info@herefordpedicargo and we can send them some information. 

So for now that is your update, it looks really positive and we can't wait to get things going, we'll be in touch and please feel free to contact us if you need.

Pedicabs at the Hereford food festival!

Glide to your Park and Ride with us!

We are going to college!

We took a cargo bike to town

More news on this once we finish talking to lots of people about it!

Cargo bikes for your community.

Potentially our next big thing…. potentially your next big thing!

We want to pay for and maintain a cargo bike which we can then lease out for a really small fee to a community. We want to provide a safe place for it to live and to create a really easy web and app based booking system. We're holding some events you can come to to find out more information. We've got funding to do this, we're just looking for the people to use it now!

Email us (info@herefordpedicargo.com) if you are keen or come along to one of the events below:

We are in High Town Hereford on Saturday 13th of October with a big bike and big smiles between 10:00 and 16:00, we'll be by W H Smiths.

Then on Monday 15th of October we are holding a discussion at the Courtyard theatre between 16:30 and 17:30 as part of the h:Energy week - it is a free for all and anyone can come and listen to our plans and give us their feedback. 

We want to start this in Hereford but could go anywhere potentially. 

If you are interested in this email us - info@herefordpedicabs.com

Some more info...

As a company we're over five years old, we've tried lots of things out and all in all we have had some great successes. One of the most amazing things for us has been just how much stuff we've been able to move using bikes. We figure that it would be great if everyone had access to a cargo bike. 

Cargo bikes have never been something we've been using because we couldn't afford a van. We have used them because they have been the best way of getting big things around a city in a quick, environmentally sustainable way. We can get into areas that cars can't, at times that fit our customers and we can do it fast. People always seem amazed when they see huge loads arriving on the bikes and our customers love using us. 

We think that if people had access to cargo bikes they could replace some of their short car journeys, save money on fuel, do something good for the environment and keep healthy, all at the same time! We want to provide bikes which we can rent out at a very tiny fee (maybe less than £1.50 per user per week) to communities. We want to maintain them for that price too and also provide an online and app based booking system. We think it's possible. 

In some European places like Copenhagen 17% of the population have access to a cargo bike and of that 25% of people use it as a car replacement. To put that into perspective that would be like having 3000 cargo bikes zooming around Hereford. We understand that might be a little unlikely but we can't help notice a growing trend in cycling and a growing trend in the use and sale of bikes, child seats for bikes, pannier racks and baskets and of course the growing sale of cargo bikes in this country. We want to help people to get involved in that. 

We've noticed that cargo bikes are pretty expensive and in some cases a bit of a fashion statement in certain places. Hopefully we can solve that problem by providing a (albeit very cool) practical and cheap opportunity to have access to a cargo bike. 

So I guess the next thing to mention is how much work we have done regarding this so far. The answer is a lot but not all of it. As much as we can at the moment. It is of course fine for us to have this idea but what we now need to do is find out if people would want to use a bike if they had access to one. We need to work out how much they would be prepared to pay for it too, what one person expects for £1.50 a week might be very different to someone else's. There is also quite a lot of work to be done to decide how many people, and in what density, we could satisfy with a bike. So in big company terms… we've gone out to consultation.. in our terms… were asking some people. Here's what we are up to right now:

Last week we delivered 500 flyers to a particular area of Hereford. We targeted the St James area and covered most of it. Specifically we dropped flyers to almost every house on - Green Street, Park Street, Hampton Street, Harold Street, St James Terrace, Vicarage Road, St James Road, Grenfell Road and Grove Road. We are hoping that in that area we can get enough people who are interested to come forward, if so we'll be able to justify sticking a bike in for them to use. Why that area? Because the people in that area seem to be receptive to this sort of idea, they recently started a car club and they also get regular residential deliveries by our cargo bikes. The bikes should be know to them and hopefully that'll help. That being said we are yet to settle on a specific area, if there is a need hopefully we could put a bike anywhere. IF YOU THINK THE AREA YOU LIVE IN COULD DO WITH ONE GET IN TOUCH - email info@herefordpedicargo.com

The flyers say a little bit about the scheme and ask if people are interested. They also invite the household to two events which we are holding to gain further information about the potential project:

We are in High Town Hereford on Saturday 13th of October with a big bike and big smiles between 10:00 and 16:00, we'll be by W H Smiths.

Then on Monday 15th of October we are holding a discussion at the Courtyard theatre between 16:30 and 17:30 as part of the h:Energy week - it is a free for all and anyone can come and listen to our plans and give us their feedback. 

So in a nutshell that is the background behind our plan to give communities access to cargo bikes that they can use. 

WHAT WE NEED IS FOR YOU TO SPREAD THE WORD. We think this is a great thing, but we need your help to tell people about it, share it with your friends, link people to this if you think they would be keen and make sure you email us - info@herefordpedicargo.com if you want to be involved. 

Haiku from Hay - Hayku

So this year we worked at the Hay Festival, our pedicabs took many people to and from the festival site.

As part of the festival people were writing Haiku, which I think are short poems with 3 lines and 17 syllables. At the festival they were called Hayku.

Simon Armitage wrote this, which we thought was pretty good:

Hayku #13

The Rickshaw

The journey from town

was a smooth one, but the view

was complete buttocks.

Thanks to our friend Heather 'The Shovel' Soulsberry for the info.

All rise to welcome the new boy

Got a new chap in helping us out with some delivery stuff.

He bought a double rainbow to work on his first day.

Sneaky peak at a coming project

Buffet delivery.... go on then

Good mention for us in the Council magazine about some work we are doing with them

Cycle logistics the final link in the chain..

Very interesting article here - http://www.cyclelogistics.eu/docs/53/CILT_Focus_CycLogs_Sept12.pdf

Pedicargo might be recruiting...

Hereford Pedicargo are potentially recruiting a part time post in the near future. We're not 100% certain at the moment but we need to be ready if we go ahead with the work. If it does go ahead the job will start in mid September. 

2.5 hours per day Monday to Friday 10:00 - 12:30
There is a chance that this may be extended to include other contract and adhock work. £8 per hour. 

Hereford Pedicargo does collections and deliveries of all sorts of things by bike in Hereford. 

To be considered for the post send an email with your c.v to info@herefordpedicabs.com accompany the letter with a couple of paragraphs about why you want to work for us. 

Applicants need to be 18+ it helps if you are; fit, keen on bikes, able to work on your own or in a team, handy to have about and it definitely helps to have a good sense of humour and enjoy a bit of bad weather. 

Do NOT reply by commenting on this post, we need all the applications to go to the same place. We'll get tonnes of applicants so make yourself stand out.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Community owned cargo bikes in Hereford

So to add a little to what we are doing with our company and to what we see happening in places in Europe we want to see if it is possible to make cargo bikes (large capacity bicycles) accessible to the general public in Hereford. Maybe in other places to if the scheme works.

It looks like we have some support from a few folk in Hereford so to get the ball rolling we are going to do a couple of local events where we can bring the idea to the general public and get their thoughts.

On of them will be in High Town on Saturday the 13th, we'll have a bike there and some questions to ask people. Then the following Monday we're chairing a talk at the local h:energy festival at the Courtyard Hereford.

Community owned cargo bikes for inner city Hereford?

About the Event or Activity

Join Will Vaughan from Hereford Pedicabs and Cargo as he joins New Leaf to discuss his proposal for community-owned cargo bikes (bicycles with large carrying capacity) for the city. The idea is already popular on the continent, and could be part of the solution for Herefordshire's future transport needs. Come and join the discussions and help shape this exciting new project proposal for locally owned, community operated cargo bikes. This event is part of an afternoon and evening of Transport related discussions, film and talks. Please check event listing for further event details.

Mon, 15/10/2012 - 4:30pm - 5:30pm

Event access: 

 The Courtyard is well connected to local transport networks, and has disabled access.

Booking?: 

 n/a - although please be aware that seats will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Capacity: 

 30

Contact details for the Event or Activity

Organisation name: 

 Pedicabs with New Leaf

Contact name: 

 Kate Gathercole

Contact email address: 

 kate@herefordshirenewleaf.org.uk

Location

Courtyard Theatre

Edgar Street

Hereford HR4 9JR

European Cycle Logistics Federation

Hereford Pedicabs and Cargo has been asked to join a formative group called the European Cycle Logistics Federation. A link to some of the Euro info

It is supported by Intelligent Energy Europe and the overall aims are to achieve a reduction in energy used in urban freight transport and to also help Cycle Logistics become a credible transport solution.

For us it's a really big thing, it means that the work we have been doing is getting recognised. The plan is for all the companies who are a bit like us throughout Europe to get together and see where our best practice examples can be applied elsewhere. Share what we know works and talk about the things that don't work.

As part of that we are having a think as to how we could bring access to cargo bikes to more people in Hereford and in other places. We even have a few projects up our sleeves..

Great reviews of our tours!

A couple of weeks ago a chap had such a good time on one of our historical tours that it inspired him to read up on some more of Hereford's history. He even sent us some notes!

For the next 5 weekends we'll be running the tours 10-4 from the tourist info centre. They last an hour, can take a maximum of 3 people per pedicab and cost a total of £15.

Get on one!

Bargain inner city advertising in Hereford

Old and New

Gemma Williams Photography sent us a cracking shot of one of our guys out working the other day, parked up by no other than Edward Elgar!

Hereford in Bloom

Not sure quite how we forgot to tell you about this one, but last month we helped Hereford in Bloom with its bid to win some medals.

We had the chance to run the judges around some bits of the town, it was a wet but great day for everyone!

Bike hire hut

In Hereford you can now rent bikes for the day from a Council / HALO leisure run enterprise based down at the Bishops Meadows. There is a swanky new hut and its worth a look!

We sent a bike down to the grand opening.

Visit from the Queen

So today was a big day in Hereford, the Queen and the DofE came to visit. There was a big old do going on on the playing fields and we were invited to be part of the Hereford marquee. 

We rustled up a selection of bikes to show the public and to hopefully catch the attention of the dignitaires. 

Everywhere was packed out so we got what space we could

 Chatted with the Mayor 

And got a glimpse of the Queen, the event was so big that they split the two of them up (like at school when you are a troublemaker).

 We had a visit from the DofE who got to sample the best of what Hereford had to offer.

 All in all it was an ace day and something we were really proud to be involved with 22000 people attended the event and we were lucky enough to be invited inside to see them.

Tom also got a rare day off work...

The Queen's visit tomorrow...

Couple of snaps from our Facebook group to keep you bloggers up to date!

Bit of a blog update, weather, proms, tours...

So we've got a Facebook account for Hereford Pedicabs and Cargo which gets updated pretty regularly by a few of the chaps - http://www.facebook.com/HerefordPedicabsAndCargo I'm going to try and link it to the blog so nobody misses anything and everything stays up to date!

In the mean time I thought I'd copy some info in for you for an update...

The weather has finally broken and we are in the midst of a great sunny July...

Our tour programme launches in July and we've been doing some training with the guys, we're looking forward to it all.

This year has been one of our busiest yet for weddings and proms, there are a couple of people who have been pointing people towards us and generally we've just been non stop.  We had a 'rave review' thanking one of our riders for wearing a tie. Quality.

Our prom season as mentioned is flat out, the prom thing is bonkers really, there is so much cash being chucked at it so it is great we can provide a fun, green and affordable alternative.

Hay Festival all done!

On Sunday we wrapped up our last shift for the Telegraph Hay Festival. If you don't know about the festival you should! It gathers thousands of people to listen to hundreds of speakers who are picked to create an incredible event. Hay runs for about 10 days each summer and has had just about every big name going attending. 

For the last couple of years we have provided a pedicab service from the festival front gates into Hay and back. It is just over half a mile to walk into Hay and our service suits the occasion perfectly. There are shuttles buses too but a few thousand people use us instead.

We teamed up with Visit Herefordshire this year who had a stand at Hay and decided to sponsor some space on our cabs. 

 We freshened up with some new T's for all of the staff to keep us smelling sweet and looking good.

In general the festival was brilliant, just as it was last year, with a share of great celebs and cracking speakers the crowds were drawn despite some pretty rubbish weather.

For us the main real challenge was the wind which was relentless, we ran 4, 6 hour shifts with 2 cabs to cover the festival operating times. We were running some pretty high mileages during the day and we were feeling the deep burn by the end. Not that we minded, it was brilliant running thousands of people to and from the festival and helping everything knit together.

  

So another great Hay festival complete, thousands of customers moved, hundreds of miles pedalled, plenty of laughs, plenty of rain, speakers rushed to the site to make their talks, high speeds set, customer records broken and we also got to hear some pretty unique feedback about what was going on from our punters. All in all a great time. We're already looking forward to heading back next year, potentially with more cabs and a bigger presence at the festival, we know we can move more people and save a bit more carbon and help bring some more excitement to journey to the festival gate.

A big thank you to all of the staff at Hay who made it possible for us to be there, we loved every minute of it.

Hay festival is getting close

Lots to do.. vinyls have started arriving for the cabs

Green Office Week - Waste

So it is Green Office Week, each day there is a focus on a topic, today it is waste, we run a trade waste recycling programme.

A while back there was a really interesting article in the Guardian - click here All about local authority not making enough effort to collect trade waste for recycling. The lead on effects of this being that what is left that businesses sorts from their own streams is often of such a small amount it isn't valuable to third party collection companies OR it goes home with employees and goes into their household stream. 


In turn this is driving the price of recyclable materials down. Also the businesses are not being credited for the Co2 saving they are potentially making as their is no formal way of tracking it. 


The fascinating thing for us is that we have been providing a solution which is cost effective for 4 years. We are cheaper than the cost to send to landfill with the Council and we return the yearly Co2 savings to the customers so they can tell their customers. We service about 400 businesses and collect all the waste with emission free vehicles. We average a saving of about 1000 tonnes of Co2 per year collectively from all our customers.

In fact we can only really make a profit because our overheads are so low, but this makes us really competitive and means we are very busy.