Chorlton Bike Deliveries
The Pitch
Problem statement
Chorlton Bike Deliveries is a grassroots cooperative that works hard to meet a variety of needs across south/central Manchester - delivering food to foodbanks, dropping clothing donations to refugees, doing grocery shopping for residents with mobility challenges and taking GP samples to hospitals for the NHS. We offer lowcost eco-friendly cargobike delivery services to local organisations & small businesses, . Our volunteer riders find value in providing for their local community - meeting mental and physical needs. Funding is needed to support our core operations and keep providing these services.
Solution
£1500 could support Chorlton Bike Deliveries by providing the funds towards our cargo-bike hub in the heart of Chorlton.. We run our entire operation out of this hub, and we hope to keep making it a positive community space, promoting our mission on the high-street. It is where cargo-bikes are securely stored and charged,, repair and maintenance workshops are held and cooperative circle meetings take place. This grant will help to cover the ongoing running costs of our hub - such as electricity, water and wifi - which provides a visible shop window promoting low-carbon/ sustainable transport alternatives.
Why are we best placed to deliver?
Chorlton Bike Deliveries is entering its third year of running logistical operations and community services, and is well established in local circles. We are proud to be part of a network of wellbeing and eco focused organisations in Manchester, and our cooperative is made up of passionate, connected volunteers each with a unique set of skills.Opening the community bike hub has been a huge achievement of this year, and we have already started training members in bike maintenance and repair. We hold group meetings at the hub at least twice fortnightly, giving our time and resources for the furthering of cooperative's goals, and we continue to take on new opportunities and do more good work.
Focus Areas
Delivery plan
Budget breakdown
| Ongoing running costs of our hub | £1,500 |
Beneficiaries
150 people
Expected impact
Covering these core costs through this funding gives us more security in our use of this hub. It also frees up more time to focus on improving & expanding our services. Riders, partners and local residents have each highlighted the importance of our personable and trustworthy nature in supporting local residents and CICs for free, in our aims to strengthen the bike lane network and encourage more people to choose cycling & in providing access to community-based cycling volunteering opportunities. We want to improve local quality of life by providing a more sustainable courier alternative - meaning cleaner air, fewer cars on the road & minimised carbon impact. This local networking opportunity improves community cohesion and can forge new friendships and professional opportunities. Our mission has always been to encourage behaviour change-reducing the dependency of using fossil fuels in transport by sharing and promoting alternatives.
Track record
We currently provide 29 NHS GP deliveries daily, 14 foodbank deliveries a week, 50kg of donations delivered per week, 2 new riders recruited each month, 3 residents shopping dropped each week, 396 bikes repaired & donated to refugees via our Bikes 4 Refugees partnership. Our bike library has just become operational, where we plan to loan out a range of bikes and bike carts to residents for whatever they can afford, our membership consists of 56 riders and 30 members, 40890 van miles avoided, 11.4 tonnes of carbon saved, 2628 payee hours employed since we began.