![]() ![]() Joining the collective entails nine months of apprenticeship that must include one winter. ![]() This chain of events did, however, allow me to wedge my foot in the door, and since I was technically the sub with the most seniority I got to audition for the part, and somehow they allowed me to join. He left the collective shortly after that and offered me his routes, which he wasn't actually allowed to do according to the collective's procedures. As fate would have it one of the Pedal People got hurt (off the job) and called me to sub. Yet as I grew older and my vicissitudinous lifestyle etched lines of character into my personality I started to romanticize the idea of working out in the elements and becoming a bicycle activist. When thoughts like this came into my mind I considered the reality of New England winters and quickly ushered them out of my head. Over this time I watched Pedal People grow and become hugely popular and always thought about what it would be like to do it full time. I pretty much did it once or twice a year for about five years, and only in nicer weather because I didn't have any fancy gear to ride in the winter. Since I was friends with Alex and Ruthy I somehow got involved as a sub early on, meaning I would occasionally cover a route for one of the actual collective members when no one from within the collective could do it. Because Northampton is a Liberal enclave the idea really appealed to the townsfolk, and the business took off. The genius of Pedal People is that the same service is offered on bike, reducing the carbon footprint of residential waste removal drastically. Each company travels down the same streets with giant trucks burning fossil fuel and belching toxic crap into the air as they continually stop and go picking up individual customer's waste. This is a particularly wasteful way to gather garbage. Because Northampton doesn't have a municipal trash and recycling pick up we have competing garbage truck companies. I am not sure if it was the original plan, but the business quickly became centered around picking up residential trash and recycling and taking it to the Northampton Department of Public Works Transfer Center. They bought some bike trailers that can hold loads up to 300 pounds from a company called Bikes at Work, and started offering their quirky service to our community. One of the other things that interested the young entrepreneurs was that the business be run ethically, and so they formed a workers collective called Pedal People. They are both very dedicated to a car-free lifestyle and bicycle activism, among other things. ![]() Back in 2002 my good friends Alex Jarrett and Ruthy Woodring had a crazy idea to start a business that uses bicycles with trailers to haul things around Northampton, Massachusetts. ![]()
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