If you have spotted what looks like a tiny Amazon delivery truck rolling through a Westside bike lane, you are not imagining things. It is a cargo bike. The four-wheeled vehicles have pedals, electric assist and a big box for packages, making them look like a cross between a bike and a delivery van.
They are coming out of Amazon’s Culver City delivery station at 5750 Mesmer Avenue. Amazon launched the fleet in August, its first e-cargo bike operation on the West Coast, with more than 25 bikes slated to start making deliveries. The company says each one can carry about 240 packages over a shift with a stop to reload. They top out at 12 miles per hour and have rear cameras and automatic parking brakes. CBS Los Angeles reported that riders undergo training and initially get shorter routes.
The bikes are operated by delivery workers hired through BHC Express, an Amazon Delivery Service Partner based at the Culver City station. BHC owner Jeff Feldman told Culver City Crossroads in August that he was looking to hire at least 50 more people for the new operation. A driver’s license is not required, but these are not push-button scooters: Riders have to pedal to get the electric assist. (Culver City Crossroads)
For anyone wondering how much work fits into that little box, BHC’s bike-rider job posting says workers may deliver up to 250 packages per shift, over eight to ten hours. The company advertises a starting wage of $20.25 an hour for bike riders, compared with $22.50 an hour for its van drivers. Both postings say hours are not guaranteed. BHC advertises health insurance, paid time off and other benefits for both jobs.
Amazon has used cargo bikes in New York City and elsewhere, but fitting a vehicle this size into city streets can take some getting used to. In New York, some riders said they felt safer in bike lanes than alongside trucks and cars, while some cyclists objected to sharing narrow lanes with the larger vehicles. The same question now comes to the Westside.
Amazon says the bikes can replace some van trips and reduce traffic, noise and emissions. The company has also made a deal to buy thousands of cargo bikes from Also, a company spun out of electric-vehicle maker Rivian, although it has not been confirmed that the Culver City bikes are that model. Amazon has announced plans to expand e-cargo bike deliveries to Burbank as well.