All of us are aware how great the need for food is at community programs across the city, and I’ve received plenty of positive feedback around City Harvest’s plan to increase the amount of food we will collect and deliver over the coming year.
I’ve also been asked how the organization can possibly meet this challenge. Like any other business with a large truck fleet, escalating fuel costs have forced us to look at our business model.
As part of our work streamlining our truck routes, City Harvest’s operations team identified a number of food businesses making regular donations of less than 50 pounds. Knowing that we needed to direct our trucks towards larger food pickups, we asked ourselves how we could continue to rescue these small but needed amounts of food. Enter the City Harvest bike fleet.
Each of the three City Harvest cargo bikes is outfitted with an insulated cart that can hold up to 500 pounds of food. Like our truck drivers, cargo bike drivers are trained to pick up and handle food safely. Perhaps you’ve already seen one of our cargo bike drivers pedaling around Manhattan, transporting food donations to a nearby agency. If not, you might want to check out a story that recently ran on NBC about the bikes. You can also find out more about the bikes – part of our larger Green Initiative – on our website.
When City Harvest began the concept of food rescue, many of us felt it was idea whose time had come. I feel the same way about our bikes.
Watch the virtual tour of the new City Harvest Cargo Bike
