Photo of the day No. 43 - Bicycle Delivery Guys in HK

23 May

Still providing an essential service in Hong Kong

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Photo of the day No. 43 - Bicycle Delivery Guys in Hong Kong

Still providing an essential service in Hong Kong

We have approximately 3,800 workers still delivering goods by bicycle in Hong Kong

click on the image to enlarge

I often chuckle when I see old guys (I cannot recall ever seeing a lady riding a bicycle delivering goods) delivering empty canisters of LPG used for cooking, I have visions of the bike and rider shooting 200ft in the air…….. they are still very much part of Hong Kong Culture although there has been a shift in who rides bikes, for what purpose and types of bikes.

Hong Kong has over 120,000 vans and trucks so there is no shortage of vehicles large and small to deliver goods so how come something as old fashioned as a bike is still used in 2025 ?

compared to scooters and motorbikes a bicycle is cheap to purchase and operate
they are pretty good in traffic and are not bothered about traffic jams or traffic lights, they weave in and out of traffic and tend to ignore any and all traffic lights
they are used for short distances and delivery guys use a bit of ingenuity to take short cuts
the riders for the most part wear minimal safety attire (if any) and do not wear helmets
they are much more prevalent in Kowloon which is very flat rather than on Hong Kong Island which has lots of steep roads and streets because of the geography but it is true to say that do see them pretty much everywhere in Hong Kong

Hong Kong restaurants have been delivering lunch and dinner boxes by guys on bikes for as long as I can remember, long before Food Panda, Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Kee Ta and such came on the scene, in the town I live in, we have a shed load of cheap restaurants and pretty much everyone has a bicycle delivery service… the big food delivery companies (which also includes fast food restaurant chains such as McDondalds, Pizza Hut etc) use scooters and not bicycles.

Goods Vehicle for Dangerous Goods

**So full gas canisters can only be transported in these special trucks**

Going back to the gas canisters, I am making a presumption that they are empty canisters and not full of gas, Hong Kong has very strict laws for the transport of dangerous goods, you need special trucks and lots of permits, I cannot imagine the Government allowing guys on bikes to deliver a full load of gas canisters, hence the the image of a bike and it’s rider going 200 feet up in the air after being hit by a 38 tonne truck doing 50mph!

I am always astonished how they keep their balance, some ( see image below ) juggle 6 large canisters!

3,800 workers delivering food by bike and that number is current as the Government commissioned a survey……

This has seen big changes in the types of bikes used in the past decade

traditionally any old bike was used for deliveries, large baskets front and back where the main accessories
but the big Food Delivery Companies need a much quicker mode of transport as they promised fast delivery, with the cost of a scooter being quite high you now see people using the muh more affordable e bikes, so you guessed it electric bike sales have sky rocketed in recent years.

Naturally in Hong Kong the Hong Kong Government now calls e bikes, e scooters, e suitcases etc Electric Mobility Devices! and legislation will soon be enacted.

At this moment in time they are all BANNED from roads, pavements etc as they have to follow the same registration process as that of cars, trucks, vans, buses, motorbikes and scooters and that means you need a drivers licence, insurance etc and presumably helmets as well.

E bikes as they are known to me anyway are a curse and I should also point out that there seems to be a significant split into who actually uses e bikes,

Hong Kong Chinese delivery guys still favour traditional bikes, Food Delivery Companies generally use chaps who are of “South Asian” origin which is the Government buzz phrase used and they favour e bikes.

This is basically the current Government thinking

“In Hong Kong, electric bikes are likely to be limited to a maximum speed of 25 kilometers per hour (km/h). This is a speed limit that has been suggested as a requirement if e-bikes are to be legalized. The limit is being considered based on practices in other areas, like Singapore, and in response to concerns about accidents and safety. The suggestion is that e-bikes and scooters should be limited to 25 km/h to reduce the severity of accidents”

Also in Hong Kong we have this bizarre fad (and acknowledged by the Government) of Mainland Chinese Tourists riding around on the streets and malls etc on E - suitcases! and a lot of the time is is young kids, they are a menace as they are on the pavements | sidewalks and naturally you have to get out of the way

I have nothing against regular bikes being on the roads, they are an important part of Hong Kong culture but those darn e bikes are a real safety hazard, I have had a few incidents of late where I was almost hit by an e bike travelling faster than a bloody car and yes, he ran a red light! apparently if you pedal and use batter power you can really get up a head of steam and if you are running red lights,,,,,

It is also fair to say that these mainly South Asian delivery guys have no regard for safety or traffic regulations, the Police try and crack down with little effect so far and it is simply a matter of time before we have some fatal road accidents. involving e bikes.

The 2 really bad examples I have images of, see the last 2 images below

a South Asian chap wearing earphones overtook the Mercedes Benz on the inside and was going a lot faster than the car!
a South Asian chap ran a red light at a busy intersection and got stuck in the middle of a busy road, note the size of the dump truck that almost took him out!

….. and a moment of humour to finish, the strangest thing I have seen on a bike is a couple of recently deceased pigs being transported to a market in Mong Kok, the delivery guy was blissfully unaware that blood and guts where dripping from the pigs, natural under current laws that is just fine!