Keep posties on bikes, urges petition to No. 10

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/31589/Keep- ... n-to-No-10" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Petition on the Prime Minister's website urges Government to apply pressure on Royal Mail not to abandon bikes for vans.

The sight of a postman pedalling down the street will become much rarer under plans by the Royal Mail to phase out thousands of bicycles and replace them with vans, starts the petition.

To sign, supply an email address on the No 10 website and click on a confirmatory email.

The petition continues:

"Environmental groups have queried why the Royal Mail would replace a sustainable form of transport with one that causes congestion and is dependent on fossil fuels. Bicycles have been used to deliver post since 1880 and the Royal Mail has more than 16,000, made by the British company Pashley.

"Until recently, bicycles are used on a quarter of the country's 65,000 delivery routes.

"The bicycle is ideally suited to the job of delivering mail.

You can park them anywhere and they don't cause any congestion. Even during this winter's severe snow, the post continued to be delivered by bike."

The petition wants the Government to guarantee the right of Royal Mail posties to have the option to use bicycles to deliver post and to commit to not destroying the unwanted bicycles but to send them to charities such as Re~Cycle.

However, Re~Cycle could be inundated with ex-postal bikes and wouldn't be able to store them all.

According to the Pashley website, the company's Mailstar bicycle is "designed to operate in the toughest of conditions [and] this cutting edge machine is easy to maintain, dependable and capable of carrying loads of up to twenty four kilos."

[Big Daz]

24kg?

16kg pouch and two 8 kg panniers make 32 kg, are we taking to much? Have CWU H and S failed us?

[DGP1]

24kg?

16kg pouch and two 8 kg panniers make 32 kg, are we taking to much? Have CWU H and S failed us?

I think it's the front tray that can carry 24kg, just because it's rated to carry it doesn't mean that we should, the 2 panniers are added (or not in my office) by RM and as such won't have been tested by Pashley.

[Pat Ostman]

24kg?

16kg pouch and two 8 kg panniers make 32 kg, are we taking to much? Have CWU H and S failed us?

I think it's the front tray that can carry 24kg, just because it's rated to carry it doesn't mean that we should, the 2 panniers are added (or not in my office) by RM and as such won't have been tested by Pashley.

Designed to operate in the toughest of conditions this cutting edge machine is easy to maintain, dependable and capable of carrying loads of up to twenty four kilos

The Panniers are from Pashley it seems but i believe they are just for your kit, not for mail.

http://www.pashley.co.uk/products/mailstar.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Sparkes]

Hello, I'm writing a piece on this for the Guardian's bike blog. Would there be any cycling posties willing to have a chat with me on the phone?

I'd just like to know how you feel about riding these Pashleys. Personally it sounds far preferable to a van, but that's just me.

If you have five minutes to spare you can drop me an email (matt.sparkes@gmail.com) or give me a call (07974 918855).

Thanks a lot,
Matt

[Pat Ostman]

Tell you now they are brilliant in my opinion. It's so sad that we are now going to pollute and spend MORE money using this crap van derived nonsense.