Kenneth C. Martin Blogs: Islabikes and Go Box are the latest Portland businesses to add electric cargo bikes to their fleet

Friday, August 10, 2018

Islabikes and Go Box are the latest Portland businesses to add electric cargo bikes to their fleet

Islabikes (L) and Go Box are ready to roll thanks to new cargo bikes.
(Photos courtesy of the companies)

When you do business in a city, electric cargo bikes are often a much better solution for deliveries and service calls than cars or trucks. There are many companies in Portland that understand this fact, and two of them recently added new bikes to their fleet.

Islabikes launches the Traveling Technician

UK-based Islabikes has added a cool new service to their growing North American headquarters in southeast Portland.

All loaded up for deliver of a new bike!

You can now schedule an appointment and a professional mechanic will arrive at your door. Their new Traveling Technician service is based on an Urban Arrow electric cargo bike. A large and secure cargo box is stocked with every tool needed to fix Islabikes. They also offer free safety checks and repair quotes. Flat repairs are $9.99 (including the tube), new brake pads can be installed for $14.99, and full tune-ups range from $40 to $100 depending on bike model.

In addition to repairs, this new service can also deliver new bikes directly to customers. The technician will show up to your home or office or anywhere there’s a safe space to work.

The Traveling Technician is available to customers in the central city, north to St. Johns and east to I-205 between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm Monday through Friday (and to 8:00 pm on Thursdays). See the delivery range, price list, and full details on their website.

Go Box has a new partner and a new bike

When the new owner of Go Box, a subscription-based, reusable container service, has such bike-oriented roots, it’s no surprise to hear they’ve added a pedal-powered vehicle to their fleet.

The service is now available at the New Seasons Market in northwest.

Former Portland Design Works marketing director and local off-road bicycling advocate Jocelyn Gaudi Quarrell took over the reins of of Go Box two months ago and has already announced a partnership: You can now use the service at New Seasons Market’s Slabtown location (the partnership is currently on a pilot basis, with hopes of expanding to all stores soon).

To help manage this growing business (we profiled the company in 2016 when they hit a 100,000 container milestone), Go Box is now using a Cero One electric-assist bike. The new bike will help employees redistribute containers between drop box sites and the 75 different food vendors who use the service. In keeping with the values established by former owner Laura Weiss, Go Box does all of their delivery and pick-up logistics by bike.

“We’re pretty excited about it,” Jocelyn shared with us last week. “As it will definitely help make pulling our trailer around town much more efficient.”

Cargo bikes have vast potential to improve the safety, humanity, and efficiency of Portland’s streets. We hope to see many more local businesses follow the lead of these companies

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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