“The goal is to create a sustainable net zero-carbon delivery platform that uses cargo bikes and small electric vans,” says Jaison.
Good Cycles already does some work in the delivery space, but this is more ambitious.
“Our electric cargo bikes can move 300 kilos of goods, so that in effect removes one truck from the CBD. This is something that the City of Melbourne is keen to do – in their most recent transport strategy they have flagged the fact that they want to see the number of small delivery vans and trucks entering the CBD drastically reduced and over the course of time even eliminated,” he says.
“Good Deliveries is essentially about that delivery platform and then scaling that service up so we can provide it to other social enterprises and commercial partners, which creates employment pathways.”
As Jaison points out, those pathways are for young people facing barriers to employment, who are referred by the Brotherhood of St Laurence and Fruit2Work, getting them into the workforce delivering fruit packages. Good Cycles is looking at creating 50 new jobs over the next two years.
“It’s a really exciting program for us. Fruit2Work is already doing a lot of deliveries across Melbourne, and we see the opportunity of piloting this project over the next two years and being able to scale it from there.
“At the moment we have the business case mapped out with six electric cargo bikes doing deliveries around the city. We have a small warehouse close to the CBD near Queen Victoria Market, and we’ll start doing deliveries for Fruit2Work and the market’s stallholders whilst also engaging with other partners over the next six months.”
Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation provided a Post-Covid Collaboration Initiative Grant to Good Cycles for Good Deliveries. The Foundation’s CEO Dr Catherine Brown OAM points to the positive double impact of the Good Deliveries program.
“The program fits in with our employment outcomes. We are helping to increase employment opportunities for young people who have faced a range of issues preventing them from entering the workforce.
“Economic inclusion is absolutely critical for the success of our young people to participate fully and reach their full potential in life.
“We’re also working on reducing emissions. Good Deliveries, using e-bikes in the city, is reducing emissions whilst at the same time providing employment. It’s a great success story.”
The business-to-business delivery industry is a competitive market worth $132 billion, and is dominated by supermarkets, but there are niche opportunities waiting to be snapped up, as anyone who gets milk delivered by MilkRun will know. And it is here that Good Cycles sees its opportunity.
The plan is to start out delivering small parcels in Melbourne’s CBD and inner north-west, delivering the fruit, vegetables and other goods from Queen Victoria Market.
To start, Good Cycles will be focusing on delivery contracts with other not-for-profits and government agencies. Having established a base, it will expand further into deliveries for the private sector, engaging big businesses at their Corporate Social Responsibility level.
“I think at a corporate level there is a genuine appetite for doing things better. It’s not tokenism anymore,” Jaison says.
“Using social enterprises like Good Cycles and Fruit2Work has social benefits – like using cargo bikes instead of trucks and vans because it’s better for the environment. That’s starting to become more important to business because their shareholders want it and employees and consumers prefer to be part of businesses that are doing the right thing, as opposed to making the most money possible in the shortest period of time. That’s really driving the take-up with organisations like ours.
“The added bonus is that we can often deliver things cheaper – it’s a $10,000 bike versus a $30,000 van, not to mention on-costs, running costs, maintenance. It’s better for the city too, reducing traffic congestion and pollution.”
Good Cycles knows from its own experience that the key to success is getting the foundation right and growing from there. That means establishing a business case, assessing the pitfalls, and being ready.
After ten years, Good Cycles has the business knowledge needed to grow and scale-up. It started with a program training young people as bike mechanics with a handful of staff to well over a hundred.
All round, that’s a virtuous circle – a good cycle.