After visiting a grade 6/7 class at Bench Elementary School this spring, we really solidified our plans to get an electric cargo bike. There they were, this awesome class of kids who are the future leaders of our community. We brought our trailers to their school so they could get a hands on experience. The students climbed into the trailers and got to try them out and it was really fun! After explaining all the positive environmental impacts of our business, we actually kind of inspired ourselves too! We were like, wow we are doing a lot here which is a good example for our community AND we could do even more!
We started to think about how it drives us crazy that we have to drive a car to work. We are often too exhausted after doing recyclists work all day to then also bike up hills at the end of the day to get home. We also started to think about how with an electric cargo bike we could expand our services to areas that have hills! Up until now, all our customers have been in the flat zone of Duncan.
My dad has been volunterring for the Recyclists lately and had also been researching electric bikes for us and found the Packster 40 at Citrus Cycles in Ladysmith.
So we tried the cargo e-bike out and loved it right away! Our son Eric, who is almost 4 years old, got to ride in the front kid carrier. Eric looked so cute tucked in there it was becoming impossible to resist purchasing this awesome bike. After trying it out and seeing how it fits with Tony’s Trailers we were amazed at how well it did pulling heavy loads up and down hills. Our son also loved riding in the front carrier and even fell asleep curled up cozy in there.
We also really liked the idea of replacing one car with an electric cargo bike. We looked at the annual cost of insurance, gas and repairs for a car and compared it to the upfront cost of the bike. The bike is very expensive, but it will pay for itself soon enough through the annual savings we will get from selling one of our cars.
Our quality of life is also improved as the ride to work is so beautiful. We get to say good morning to the farm animals and spot rare moths! On my way to work one morning I found a beautiful moth (picture below) stuck on a traffic island next to the highway, so I put it in my front carrier and biked it back into a forest. So now we can save insects on our commute too 🙂 . I am also really realizing the need for more bike trails to make it safer for everyone and help encourage more people to bike. By the way, it’s Bike to School and Work Week May 27 -June 2, 2019 .
If you are interested in how our business is going to expand services with the Ecargo bike, please follow us on Facebook or our website . We have already increased our ability to do organics pick ups in Cowichan Bay. Please Email us at info@cowichanrecyclists.com if you’d like to more information.
Cowichan Recyclists 