Climate charity Possible has partnered with the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) to launch a new report called Hot Wheels, which calls for better cycling infrastructure and traffic-reduction measures to aid food delivery workers in their work.
The delivery sector has boomed in recent years, with an estimated 20,000 Londoners now working as food delivery and courier riders. These riders are major beneficiaries of London’s cycle lanes, with approximately 10% of London’s cycle trips estimated to be taken by delivery riders, according to new research by IWGB and Possible.
Today’s report suggests that couriers want better and more cycle lanes as well as lower traffic routes, with 80% of couriers preferring to use protected cycle lanes or low traffic routes if and when they could. Additionally, 60% of couriers said they “always or constantly” feel at risk or in danger on the roads when they are working.
While traffic reduction is a climate and health issue, it is also an equality issue. People from poorer and minority backgrounds are significantly more likely to be killed or seriously injured on London’s roads – there are more than 23,000 road casualties every year in London, with 95 people killed and nearly 4,000 seriously injured in 2023 alone.
For food delivery workers, low pay per delivery leads to increased pressure to make deliveries quickly. These workers are highly incentivised to use faster, less safe, and more polluting transport such as mopeds or motorbikes to get around, contributing to the already significant air pollution in London.
Motorbike and moped users are also the most vulnerable group of road users, being roughly four times more likely to be seriously injured and 11-15 times more likely to be killed on London’s users – and they are three times more likely to be involved in crashes where someone else, usually a pedestrian, is killed.
Transport for London (TfL)’s ‘Vision Zero’ strategy aims to eradicate road deaths in London by 2041. More support for the delivery drivers of London would go a long way to achieving this goal.
Possible and IWGB are calling for a scrappage scheme and social leasing programme that would make legal e-bikes accessible to couriers, allowing for them to transfer millions of miles from fossil fuels to electricity and would have the added benefit of cutting road danger by getting people off motorbikes.
Additionally, the report recommends that better cycling infrastructure and more low traffic routes should be created to ensure safer journeys for couriers across London, while an improvement in pay and conditions for these workers would reduce the for speed and guarantee safer streets for everyone.
Shaf Hussain, a cycle courier and Chair of the Couriers and Logistics Branch of the IWGB said, “As a courier, I know first-hand the high pressure demands of the industry that means people like me have to rush from one delivery to the next in order to make our pay worth it.
“This comes out of a working culture that prioritises profit over people, meaning the safety of couriers and delivery workers across London is at risk. We need better working conditions and higher pay for couriers, who are often marginalised in other ways too, as well as safer transport options and routes of travel.
“We need broader support from politicians and delivery companies to be able to travel safer, produce fewer emissions, and better infrastructure so we can continue to work and bring people across London their takeaways and packages.”
