An Amusement & Diversion for The Genteel Cyclist. Daily.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Bike messengers are still cooler than you

Despite the undead fad of hipster fixies, Chicago has 300 working bike messengers, and they make more than 1.5 million deliveries each year, presumably without brakes or gears or freewheels. Also, they blow about 2 million red lights.


Messengers admit to breaking traffic laws and riding aggressively—after all, the more runs they make, the more money they earn. They argue the importance of their mission justifies their derring-do at the handlebars.

"A lot of times it's very likely the messenger who just broke the traffic law you saw is delivering a document that directly affects your life," said Augie Montes, 34, co-owner of 4 Star Courier Collective and a bike messenger for eight years.


Ha. That's got to be a joke, right? Ha ha.

Why can't bike messengers ever talk straight? Just once, I'd like the truth to come out of their mouths. Breaking the law is fun and fast and you can't catch me.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You are correct! It is a lot of fun to run lights cut through cars and live life on the edge. As a messenger for 2.5 years in Philadelphia we did have our share of important deliveries though. Once a layer told me I just delivered him a 2 million dollar settlement. Other times I’ve pick up coolers from hospitals and rushed them across town to other hospitals never knowing what was inside them. Crazy enough messengers are the life of the city. I personally think that with out them the businesses would have a hard time staying a float. Luckily for me we didn’t have cops just sitting at the corner waiting for messengers to eat lights while pedestrians j-walked right next to them like they do in NY. I was at a race in NY back in 05 and I ate a red light with pedestrians doing the same thing and I got a ticket. $180!!!