Local businesses are putting a unique spin on their companies’ modes of transportation by adding two-wheels to their everyday duties.
Andy Brooks, the brain behind “Bootstrap Compost,” uses bikes to get the job done.
Based in Jamaica Plain, the eco-friendly group pedals around collecting compost from businesses and households.
For a small fee, Brooks and his bicycle brigade will bring your leftovers to local farms for fertilizer.
“It’s a great marketing tool,” he said. “People are just truly thinking outside of doing normal business and for many this is another facet of that.”
Somerville-based Metro Pedal Power employees bring packages and in some cases food to businesses in Boston, Cambridge and beyond.
With more than eight cyclists on the road, owner Wenzday Jane said the parcel service has a certain appeal as well as environmental benefits.
“It’s more fun, you get exercise and it’s also in line with our values as a company,” she said.
David Watson, executive director of MassBike, said these types of businesses are appealing to customers because they are environmentally sustainable as well as cost efficient.
Pedaling to popularity
These new bicycle-focused businesses are popping up at a time when biking around the Hub has reached new heights.
The Alliance for Biking & Walking recently rated Boston the eighth safest city to bike with one cyclist fatality per year per 10,000 daily cyclists. The report ranked 51 cities.
Bike businesses
Equal Exchange:
Sweet Idea: John Piermarini is bringing batches of cookies door-to-door on the back of his bike in parts of Somerville. Five bucks gets you six homemade cookies.
Rolling Wrench: Tim Ennis travels Greater Boston making bike repairs by bike, basically lugging around a repair shop on two wheels.
Gentle Giant: Don’t want to rent a moving truck? Have these guys stack your stuff on a trailer hitched to a bike and ship it to your new pad.
