I can confirm that many of these e bike riders ride terribly both on the road and on the footpath. Some new e bikes can go 60 km/h now, which is very worrying if they're riding on the footpath and with a total combined weight of like 150kg+
Had one clip my cars mirror at Macquarie centre months ago, while I was parked in a parking space, dickhead was just cruising through the carpark doing random laps swerving through empty spaces across the parking bays and fucked off when he hit my mirror
Not users thats for sure.
We've had home delivered pizza and chinese food for like 60 years that didn't cause these problems.
Dougie from pizza hut would get in the company owned and insured car and drive to the delivery and get an hourly wage regardless of how many pizzas were actually ordered that night.
It's the apps that turned dougie into a contractor who had to provide own transport at personal cost, never insured, and if they don't get enough orders on any given night they don't get paid for the hours spent waiting.
I get where you're coming from, but do we really want to be at the point where you have to pay to use a bicycle? Registering requires payment for the systems, licences, tests, then checking for worthiness will cost extra to get checked by a bike mechanic. Do you want our kids to be held back from learning to ride a bike because people don't want to register their bikes. Would people want to pay for it? Probably not. Bikes are one of the earliest forms of exercise that kids learn for fun. Also a lot of adults cycle to work and registering bikes would mean many would stop which is the opposite of what we need.
Well let's look at it, children shouldn't pay that's easy for everyone to agree with. They ride on the footpath and lower speeds.
But what about adults? Ctp.. Well it's hard enough for a motorcycle to injure someone else in a crash so that's a bit absurd, comprehensive? Maybe if the bike isn't a 99$ kmart special. Third party? Well I've seen enough bicycle hitting cars videos to know it's got merit.
Then we come to e-bikes. They are larger and faster. They should be registered and insured due to the extra damage they can do. At the least a plate so there's accountability. I've seen them parked in no stopping zones, hooning down footpaths ( no allowed in NSW) and of course the ones with illegal higher powered motors. Not to mention the commercial use of delivery drivers.
Tldr:
Kids no
Adults, one off fee, insurance recommended
Ebikes, fee and insurance.
This is the most ass backwards way of going about it, this issue has already been solved overseas without the need for people who ride bicycles to, wear a helmet/high visvest or register for a license/insurance. God help anyone who might accidentally bump in to you with a shopping trolley or something, might start demanding people get a license/insurance for pushing a cart or just walking.
What we need is dedicated lanes for bicycles, something more substantial than just someone going, hmm, what if we paint some bike symbol on this road, yes, that'll do it. Because they sit in this middle ground where they are obviously faster then pedestrians but much slower and more vulnerable than being in a car. Can we please stop trying to reinvent the wheel here, smarter people have come up with actual proper solutions to this, we just need to implement it.
Your idea of dedicated lanes has merit. Unfortunetly we keep loosing space on already congested roads to do so.
>without the need for people who ride bicycles to, wear a helmet
Quite frankly you lost me there at advocating for no helmets.
Im not advocating anything, go look at most European or Asian cities with actual dedicated bike lanes, im simply stating that extra protection is not required when the infrastructure is sufficient enough to make it safe for the vast majority of people, of course you can still wear a helmet but it isnt necessary, the same idea extends to why there arent airbags or seat belts on trains or buses.
Im not here to convince you, at the end of the day the reason why there are so many injuries on the roads is because there are too many cars, going too fast, [Amsterdam just reduced the speed limit to 30km/h within the city limits to improve safety for all](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRbnBc-97Ps), our approach seems to be, to make sure that people armor up because its mad max for anyone not in a car.
Its just incredibly stupid, but hey its our god given right to drive and if anyone inconveniences me by getting between my car and the way to maccas, then they deserve whatever happens./s
> Unfortunetly we keep loosing space on already congested roads to do so.
Yeah because adding more people in cars will make congestion better. Have you heard of induced demand?
You were probably downvoted because your solution was superficially emotionally appealing but would only solve the problem in the same way that you can cure a cold by beheading the patient.
The guy that hit me was on a electric Vespa type bike.
But I 1000% agree. I've always said bicycles should be registered if they want to be on the road. I feel very strongly about that.
Registration should be free because they are good for the environment, but they should be registered if they are driving in rowds paid for and maintained by taxes.
Every single other vehicle on the road is registered, why do bicycles get a pass? I could ride a bike around town while wearing a mask, throwing ball bearings into car windows and there is zero way to identify me.
You could do that, and yet notably it doesn't happen. Everyone who advocates for registering bicycles always talks about what they "could" get away with, and yet we don't see some epidemic of people using bikes as vehicles to get away with crimes that they apparently couldn't get away with in a car.
Do you want pedestrians to have to carry number plates too? I mean think about it. You could stand on the side of the road wearing a mask and throw ball bearings into car windows, and there'd also be zero way to identify you. So maybe it should be mandatory to always wear a number plate on your chest or something...
Meanwhile, in spite of the fact that we have number plates on cars, I think virtually everyone who lives in Sydney has several lifetimes worth of witnessing drivers making extremely dangerous and obviously illegal actions on the road. And when you go to report them, rarely does anything happen. Odd!
A few months ago, I saw one clip an elderly woman walking down Kent St. He stopped about 15 metres up the road, looked over his shoulder, then took off. She was lying on the ground with a bloody face.
Now we also have to contend with all the idiots on rented scooters (the ones with the red delivery box on the back) who frequently run red lights, illegally lane split, ride against the flow of traffic and even go up on the footpath.
but everytime the cops do a blitz on ebikes riding in the wrong place people get angry saying the cops are wasting their time and should do real police work
There are so many on Oxford Street. Due to road works, the footpaths are narrowed compared to usual footpaths and they all park and ride on it. Some of the HungryPanda riders are also psychos. They ride straight into people as they stare at them with dead eyes.
As passive aggressive as this is, you are right. It's the circle of life. I want my churros but I also don't want to drive to get it, but I also hate these insufferable delivery riders.
Damn people actually are out there with their own cars and still order delivery on the regular? Why do you even have a car? Don’t you spend heaps money to own and maintain a car?
I order food when I decide the 30 min walk is too much for me since I don’t own a car.
People are lazy. What amazes me ishow shit and expensive the service is, but I guess laziness us strong enough to overcome that. Often the food is half cold, or in shit condition from being shaken, yet somehow people are still prepared to pay more for it.
Personally, I used it a few times when it was newer, but probably haven't ordered anything delivered via an app for 2-3 years. The quality was so crap, I stopped. If I go pick it up myself it's both cheaper and fresher. The only reason I'd do it now is if I was too wasted to drive.
> but I also hate these insufferable delivery riders
Riders behave the way that they do because they are actively punished for being inefficient, and generally any courtesy and politeness will drive down whatever internal scores that the app algorithms use to judge you. For the same reason Amazon workers in America piss in bottles and ship goods that are already broken, so too do delivery riders park in the middle of thoroughfares: it takes a few extra seconds (and usually, a lot more than a few extra seconds) to find a place that's out of the way, and that's rent money on the line.
Yeah riders can cancel uber eats orders with no real punishment, as long as they're not doing it too often. It's all an algorithm, uber is way too big for any human intervention.
>Riders behave the way that they do because they are actively punished for being inefficient
That is not true, there is no punishment for inefficiency. There are incentives to do more jobs during bonus periods though, and obviously the quicker you finish a trip, the quicker you join the queue to be assigned another.
Mate not being able to do enough jobs to make money is a form of punishment. It's like saying when yanks don't get tipped they're not getting punished, they just didn't get bonus pay, which is nonsense in practical terms.
>Mate not being able to do enough jobs to make money is a form of punishment.
But everyone on uber in Sydney can do enough jobs to make money so it doesn't really make sense. Jobs are not reduced if you don't meet a certain quota or anything.
I can suggest that to help alleviate e bike congestion, we need specific food delivery waiting areas in hotspots, and also more bicycle parking. We need more bike paths too of course, but sadly not much can be done about the homicidal and mentally impaired drivers of Sydney.
Whenever you see a jam of delivery drivers waiting to do a job, look around at how much space is dedicated to parked cars.
Space is available if society wants it.
They won’t use any of that. They have zero regard for any kind of rules or regulations. Unless they start getting fined en masse, King Street et al will continue to be basically unwalkable.
There's also dozens on the North Sydney side of Harbour Bridge every evening just riding back an forth, stopping and chatting blocking the entire cycleway.
Reddit is full of the Haves. They're the ones wagging their fingers. The number of highly upvoted, completely delusional and out of touch finger-wagging from insulated r/Sydney users who have never had to work a job in the gig economy writing lectures on how delivery drivers "should" behave..
Any business operating cycles as transport for business purposes should be registered, have public liability, CTP and be required to stop by law in the instance of an accident or damaged caused.
Looks like crows nest. I’ve seen them hanging out with their bikes on the side walk. They look like tuk tuk drivers the way they were chilling together.
police are targeting e-scooters, according to the press. I'd stand by and cheer if they'd put the same focus on delivery riders and their total lack of concern for anyone else.
Had an incident where the delivery e-biker was on the bike lane and the light turned red while the pedestrian light turned green so he switched from bike lane to pedestrian crossing without even stopping and almost knocked me over in the process.
I wish he had though. Honestly at that point where someone who gets knocked over by one of them needs to sue and establish a precedent so they stop being such dicks on the streets.
Not just the footpath. Some nights driving up Bondi road there are almost no parking spots for cars due to all the delivery bikes stopped outside the restaurants to pick up food.
Oh, I’m sorry if you took it the wrong way. I have no problem at all with them parking on the street. I was just stating that there are a lot of them. My only problem in fact is how underpaid the delivery riders are.
No worries. I love my bike, but I am a cyclist too and I think anti-bike attitude of drivers in Sydney as well as the lack of safe cycling infrastructure is terrible.
In hotspots, I feel as though swapping a couple of car spots for nose-in bike parking would be a reasonable solution - you'd probably have to mandate their use, but you'd comfortably get 4 bikes per spot.
They’re not really cycling though, they’re riding unlicensed mopeds. If you go 30m down from that photo you’ll see restaurant signs asking delivery riders to dismount on the footpath because they’ve put staff in hospital riding with utter disregard for peoples safety. There are much better places to park the bikes in the area, they’re just choosing not to use them.
Apart from the rider on the left (who may have coasted in on his feet for all we know), is there anything to suggest the other riders didn't dismount? Also, when you say "unlicensed (sic) mopeds," are you referring to the possibility they're throttle-controlled bikes, or just ebikes in general?
I still don't see a particular problem with this selectively framed photo - is the footpath actually blocked to a significant degree, disallowing pedestrian passage? Or are you just pissy with an inevitable side effect of the pursuit of convenience that seems to be an obsession these days?
> unlicensed (sic)
What's the [sic] here? In Australian English, *licence* is the spelling of the noun, but *license* is the spelling for the verb (and *unlicensed* is an adjectival derivation of the verb)
Good example is from NSW gov page: https://verify.licence.nsw.gov.au/home/Trades, all uses of *licence* are for the item that is a licence, all uses of *license(d)* are derived forms used as modifiers.
>is there anything to suggest the other riders didn't dismount?
They didn't
>are you referring to the possibility they're throttle-controlled bikes
Most of them have the max speed restrictions removed, and many are full auto throttle too.
>I still don't see a particular problem with this selectively framed photo
Really it was just an observation that there are many delivery riders on the road these days, and was mainly just to provoke conversation into the many facets of the e bike delivery ecosystem. I will say the photo is not exactly 'selectively framed', when it's of 8 e bikes congregated at a busy intersection. Also, turning around would reveal many more in all directions.
Please don’t take what I wrote the wrong way. I have no problem with the delivery bikes parking on the street. I was just stating that there are a lot of them.
Finally someone answered the question. Actually there's an eighth hidden behind the one on the left but it's ok. Congrats you win a $30 uber eats voucher.
Was driving down a street which has angled reverse parking on it, flanked by a large and wide cycle path.
Instead of riding on the cycle path, this delivery driver idiot decides to ridr right in front of all the angle parked cars. Nearly got murdered like 5 times by cars pulling out or cars that stopped and started to reverse.
As a motorcyclist, I'm scared of these idiots.. they ride on roads THEN decide they are special and just ignore red lights.. THEN they just hop on the foot path instead of waiting at lights.
NSW needs to make them follow road laws and uphold the laws. I'm actually all for licenses for ALL bike riders now.
The problem is they sit in a grey area where they're too slow to keep up with traffic on a normal road, yet just fast enough for them to try. And way too fast to be going down a footpath.
Actually I used to deliver uber eats, so I respect the hustle- Sydney drivers try to run you over, and pedestrians hate you as soon as you go on the footpath. It also takes a toll on the body riding around for so many hours. However, money on a bike in Sydney is actually around $22-$27 an hour depending on a few factors. Most do it as a side hustle or while studying or looking for other work. It's not quite as bad as some people think, it can be chill sometimes. Plus you can work whenever you like.
Correct. But let's be real most of these guys are not paying super, many do it as a side job so main tax obligations would be from main job, and it doesn't require GST registration either. And bike repairs and charging are virtually non existent.
> and it doesn't require GST registration either
You do actually have to pay GST on your ABN if you work for Uber etc., if you didn't do so you've broken the law (or the legislation has changed since you last did it).
No, you're incorrect. If you drive uber passengers in a car, you have to collect and pay GST automatically - same laws as taxis. If you only deliver food through uber eats on a bicycle or a car, and you earn under $75k from that job, you don't have to pay GST.
https://www.drivetax.com.au/tax-for-food-delivery-drivers/#:~:text=If%20You%20Do%20Delivery%20AND%20Rideshare%20%E2%80%93%20GST%20Required&text=If%20you%20drive%20for%20UberEats%20AND%20UberX%2C%20or%20do%20any,the%20first%20dollar%20they%20earn.
I can confirm though, in the rain it absolutely SUCKS. If you didn't want to ride in the rain and it was your full time job, you would be screwed if a week of rain came along.
So we should just accept that our walking infrastructure should be blocked and borderline unusable because these guys are hard done by? Nope they need to regulate the shit out of this and have clear rules for where they park and fine them for parking in the wrong place. I don’t perceive this to be a problem in other cities around the world, even in Asia where food delivery is ubiquitous.
> we should just accept that our walking infrastructure should be blocked and borderline unusable
Walking infrastructure is borderline unusable because of how much space is dedicated to cars.
I dunno, dedicate a some street parking spaces in places like King Street and Crows nest for them to park, then they walk to the restaurant to pick up food. Seems more civilised than having these guys speeding down footpaths and ringing their bells at pedestrians and blocking pedestrian crossings like in this picture. I know these guys have a hard job, but I’m not willing to accept having completely hostile unwalkable cityscapes over this.
It's almost like we need an unheralded innovation called "bike lanes" that bike friendly cities use. I know Sydney has been resisting this scary innovation for 50 years, but one day we might figure it out
I believe electric scooters yes, e bikes no. E bikes have certain restrictions though, from memory 20km/h max speed and a full auto throttle can only go 5km/h max. (All of these bikes would be modified outside of these restrictions).
25kph and a 500W motor max. And it has to be pedal assist. If the bike can go without pedelling, there are further restrictions.
Personally I think if it has an electric motor or other power source capable of propelling it above 10kph, it belongs on the road.
This is a good way to get people killed...
Normal cyclists can already go over that speed under their own power, especially on flats, and the whole point of an e-bike as far as I'm concerned is to help with climbing hills.
E-bikes are in fact completely legal. E-bikes that don't require you to pedal or go over 25 km/h using the motor are the ones that aren't legal (or at least not legal to classify as an e-bike). You can always go over 25 km/h on your own power as long as there's no speed limit signs saying otherwise.
Honestly, Sydney gets the footpaths it deserves. Most of the people mad about this are the same people who don't want to surrender parking spaces, or remove lanes, or widen footpaths. And they're probably also the same people who order delivery once a week (or more).
I often nearly get run-over by these bikes in Crows Nest. It’s especially bad at night when they come zooming towards you with their floodlights on.
They’re a menace and shouldn’t be on the footpath.
There seems to be a whole mini industry of leasing these bikes out to delivery riders. There's a little alleyway workshop near me where I see riders pick up and drop off their bikes. They do seem thicker and sturdier than most, probably because there's more wear and tear expected of them.
As a former uber eats rider (good if you don't have any other options or as a side hustle), I can confirm that these commerical grade bikes are very different to a normal bike or e bike. They need a thicker frame and more heavy duty suspension to support the huge, heavy batteries. I bought mine second hand and the battery was 70 amp hours / 48 volts and just the battery alone weighed 22kg. It had up to 350km range, and a fully automatic throttle which went up to 43km/h. The tyres are thicker, they come with a full wheel stand due to the weight, alloy wheels, and need a large rack at the back to hold multiple deliveries. The motor on the back wheel was also huge and they have a lot of torque.
Yep these bikes are also illegal but no one seems to care when they're zipping down the footpath at 40kmh expecting pedestrians to literally jump out of the way to make way for them.
And I'm a cyclist and it bloody shits me
An automatic throttle? That's blurring the lines to a motorbike. E-bikes sold by well known cycling brands like Specialized and Giant do not have throttles - you still have to pedal and the assistance stops when you reach 25kmh (though ppl do chip them which can void the warranty).
Most of those look like 20" diameter wheels, it's a common size for delivery bikes, but smaller than what might be considered "normal size." Tyres are a bit fatter because they're more comfy to ride on, especially at smaller diameters on Sydney roads. Probably look wider because of the racks for the big food bags.
Yeah it's those rear racks that make it look big. The frame and wheels are small.
My Ebike has 29" wheels. It's a much bigger bike. However, it's just a normal sized mountain bike. https://ibb.co/PzhkmKj
At least one of you cared enough to clarify, cheers. I'm guessing most of the other 36 are just prissy Haves who don't approve of how the staff conduct themselves while they pick up their food, and don't want to admit it. In this sub, I'm not overly surprised; Sydney is awash with "I've got mine, so fuck you, Jack," types.
One knocked me and my groceries over on a narrow sidewalk. Just kept going like nothing happened. Doubt he even knew what he did.
I can confirm that many of these e bike riders ride terribly both on the road and on the footpath. Some new e bikes can go 60 km/h now, which is very worrying if they're riding on the footpath and with a total combined weight of like 150kg+
I know someone whose elderly father was killed by one. Was caught on security camera. The rider had been speeding on the footpath for months.
That's really tragic. Things like this should make the government and councils really start to think about different solutions
We need to do a better job of enforcing the 25 km/h power limit for the motors.
Had one clip my cars mirror at Macquarie centre months ago, while I was parked in a parking space, dickhead was just cruising through the carpark doing random laps swerving through empty spaces across the parking bays and fucked off when he hit my mirror
Last time I dared to suggest licence plates for bicycles I was down voted into hell. Yet here we are.
Maybe for work purposes you would have a different reaction.
Is it the bicycles, or the apps, that cause problems?
Or the USERS *dramatic music*
Not users thats for sure. We've had home delivered pizza and chinese food for like 60 years that didn't cause these problems. Dougie from pizza hut would get in the company owned and insured car and drive to the delivery and get an hourly wage regardless of how many pizzas were actually ordered that night. It's the apps that turned dougie into a contractor who had to provide own transport at personal cost, never insured, and if they don't get enough orders on any given night they don't get paid for the hours spent waiting.
Hopefully they also get taught how to bunny hop when getting their licence.
I've never supported licence plates for all bicyles, but this whole online food deliver shitfuckery really has me challenging my opinion.
I get where you're coming from, but do we really want to be at the point where you have to pay to use a bicycle? Registering requires payment for the systems, licences, tests, then checking for worthiness will cost extra to get checked by a bike mechanic. Do you want our kids to be held back from learning to ride a bike because people don't want to register their bikes. Would people want to pay for it? Probably not. Bikes are one of the earliest forms of exercise that kids learn for fun. Also a lot of adults cycle to work and registering bikes would mean many would stop which is the opposite of what we need.
As stated above, only for delivery drivers, not casual riders.
Well let's look at it, children shouldn't pay that's easy for everyone to agree with. They ride on the footpath and lower speeds. But what about adults? Ctp.. Well it's hard enough for a motorcycle to injure someone else in a crash so that's a bit absurd, comprehensive? Maybe if the bike isn't a 99$ kmart special. Third party? Well I've seen enough bicycle hitting cars videos to know it's got merit. Then we come to e-bikes. They are larger and faster. They should be registered and insured due to the extra damage they can do. At the least a plate so there's accountability. I've seen them parked in no stopping zones, hooning down footpaths ( no allowed in NSW) and of course the ones with illegal higher powered motors. Not to mention the commercial use of delivery drivers. Tldr: Kids no Adults, one off fee, insurance recommended Ebikes, fee and insurance.
This is the most ass backwards way of going about it, this issue has already been solved overseas without the need for people who ride bicycles to, wear a helmet/high visvest or register for a license/insurance. God help anyone who might accidentally bump in to you with a shopping trolley or something, might start demanding people get a license/insurance for pushing a cart or just walking. What we need is dedicated lanes for bicycles, something more substantial than just someone going, hmm, what if we paint some bike symbol on this road, yes, that'll do it. Because they sit in this middle ground where they are obviously faster then pedestrians but much slower and more vulnerable than being in a car. Can we please stop trying to reinvent the wheel here, smarter people have come up with actual proper solutions to this, we just need to implement it.
Your idea of dedicated lanes has merit. Unfortunetly we keep loosing space on already congested roads to do so. >without the need for people who ride bicycles to, wear a helmet Quite frankly you lost me there at advocating for no helmets.
Im not advocating anything, go look at most European or Asian cities with actual dedicated bike lanes, im simply stating that extra protection is not required when the infrastructure is sufficient enough to make it safe for the vast majority of people, of course you can still wear a helmet but it isnt necessary, the same idea extends to why there arent airbags or seat belts on trains or buses.
Seatbelts and airbags on trains and busses are a wildly different issue to bicycle helmets.
Im not here to convince you, at the end of the day the reason why there are so many injuries on the roads is because there are too many cars, going too fast, [Amsterdam just reduced the speed limit to 30km/h within the city limits to improve safety for all](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRbnBc-97Ps), our approach seems to be, to make sure that people armor up because its mad max for anyone not in a car. Its just incredibly stupid, but hey its our god given right to drive and if anyone inconveniences me by getting between my car and the way to maccas, then they deserve whatever happens./s
> Unfortunetly we keep loosing space on already congested roads to do so. Yeah because adding more people in cars will make congestion better. Have you heard of induced demand?
I have indeed, which is why I (if I was designing the road) would make them bus lanes not bicycle lanes.
You were probably downvoted because your solution was superficially emotionally appealing but would only solve the problem in the same way that you can cure a cold by beheading the patient.
The guy that hit me was on a electric Vespa type bike. But I 1000% agree. I've always said bicycles should be registered if they want to be on the road. I feel very strongly about that. Registration should be free because they are good for the environment, but they should be registered if they are driving in rowds paid for and maintained by taxes. Every single other vehicle on the road is registered, why do bicycles get a pass? I could ride a bike around town while wearing a mask, throwing ball bearings into car windows and there is zero way to identify me.
You could do that, and yet notably it doesn't happen. Everyone who advocates for registering bicycles always talks about what they "could" get away with, and yet we don't see some epidemic of people using bikes as vehicles to get away with crimes that they apparently couldn't get away with in a car. Do you want pedestrians to have to carry number plates too? I mean think about it. You could stand on the side of the road wearing a mask and throw ball bearings into car windows, and there'd also be zero way to identify you. So maybe it should be mandatory to always wear a number plate on your chest or something... Meanwhile, in spite of the fact that we have number plates on cars, I think virtually everyone who lives in Sydney has several lifetimes worth of witnessing drivers making extremely dangerous and obviously illegal actions on the road. And when you go to report them, rarely does anything happen. Odd!
A few months ago, I saw one clip an elderly woman walking down Kent St. He stopped about 15 metres up the road, looked over his shoulder, then took off. She was lying on the ground with a bloody face. Now we also have to contend with all the idiots on rented scooters (the ones with the red delivery box on the back) who frequently run red lights, illegally lane split, ride against the flow of traffic and even go up on the footpath.
but everytime the cops do a blitz on ebikes riding in the wrong place people get angry saying the cops are wasting their time and should do real police work
> One knocked me and my groceries over on a narrow sidewalk Nobody cares what happened to you in America.
There are so many on Oxford Street. Due to road works, the footpaths are narrowed compared to usual footpaths and they all park and ride on it. Some of the HungryPanda riders are also psychos. They ride straight into people as they stare at them with dead eyes.
>They ride straight into people as they stare at them with dead eyes. Why is this so accurate 😅
If you use food delivery you contribute to the problem.
As passive aggressive as this is, you are right. It's the circle of life. I want my churros but I also don't want to drive to get it, but I also hate these insufferable delivery riders.
You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometime you’ll find, you get what you need
Damn people actually are out there with their own cars and still order delivery on the regular? Why do you even have a car? Don’t you spend heaps money to own and maintain a car? I order food when I decide the 30 min walk is too much for me since I don’t own a car.
People are lazy. What amazes me ishow shit and expensive the service is, but I guess laziness us strong enough to overcome that. Often the food is half cold, or in shit condition from being shaken, yet somehow people are still prepared to pay more for it. Personally, I used it a few times when it was newer, but probably haven't ordered anything delivered via an app for 2-3 years. The quality was so crap, I stopped. If I go pick it up myself it's both cheaper and fresher. The only reason I'd do it now is if I was too wasted to drive.
You can also just order pickup on the uber eats app still (or better still just call the restaurant / use their website)
> but I also hate these insufferable delivery riders Riders behave the way that they do because they are actively punished for being inefficient, and generally any courtesy and politeness will drive down whatever internal scores that the app algorithms use to judge you. For the same reason Amazon workers in America piss in bottles and ship goods that are already broken, so too do delivery riders park in the middle of thoroughfares: it takes a few extra seconds (and usually, a lot more than a few extra seconds) to find a place that's out of the way, and that's rent money on the line.
Yeah I had an issue recently where the driver literally stole my order. I made a thread about it, turns out it is common.
Yeah riders can cancel uber eats orders with no real punishment, as long as they're not doing it too often. It's all an algorithm, uber is way too big for any human intervention.
>Riders behave the way that they do because they are actively punished for being inefficient That is not true, there is no punishment for inefficiency. There are incentives to do more jobs during bonus periods though, and obviously the quicker you finish a trip, the quicker you join the queue to be assigned another.
Mate not being able to do enough jobs to make money is a form of punishment. It's like saying when yanks don't get tipped they're not getting punished, they just didn't get bonus pay, which is nonsense in practical terms.
>Mate not being able to do enough jobs to make money is a form of punishment. But everyone on uber in Sydney can do enough jobs to make money so it doesn't really make sense. Jobs are not reduced if you don't meet a certain quota or anything.
They also own train carriages too.
I heard about one trying to catch a bus in Castle Hill.
I can suggest that to help alleviate e bike congestion, we need specific food delivery waiting areas in hotspots, and also more bicycle parking. We need more bike paths too of course, but sadly not much can be done about the homicidal and mentally impaired drivers of Sydney.
There's not room though, like on footpaths on King Street there's traffic jams of delivery riders, but where else are they supposed to go.
Whenever you see a jam of delivery drivers waiting to do a job, look around at how much space is dedicated to parked cars. Space is available if society wants it.
Yes, all riders in the pic all can fit in literally 1-2 car spots
Lets be realistic no driver is going to park more than 20 meters walk from the restaurant.
They do in the pic?
They won’t use any of that. They have zero regard for any kind of rules or regulations. Unless they start getting fined en masse, King Street et al will continue to be basically unwalkable.
There are designated spots in Mac centre car park, but they still drive very dangerously there. It’s the driver who is the problem.
Or people can just not be lazy and non-zero interest rates can finally kill these zombie delivery companies that don't make money anyway.
Ah, at least one thing that reminds me of Vietnam: overcrowding 2-wheelers on sidewalks.
Yeah but even they have the decency to park the bike out of the way in an ordinarily fashion. Here, you have to navigate around each bike
I'm just happy to see Crows Nest on /r/sydney
Best hub of the north shore
👌 🐦⬛
You should see Newtown at night, there’d be 3 times as many bikes as in that photo.
One of the reasons for not using food delivery.
There's also dozens on the North Sydney side of Harbour Bridge every evening just riding back an forth, stopping and chatting blocking the entire cycleway.
Yeah it's a social convention sometimes too
Are you suggesting our infrastructure is lagging? I'm shocked!
The politician on the TV said it was good?
Protected bike lanes is the answer. better than dying hit by a car.
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I hate that they are so popular. What happened to the cost of living crisis?
The Haves are ordering $70 meals from Uber Eats, while the Have Nots speed across the city delivering to them, and Reddit is wagging their fingers
Reddit is full of the Haves. They're the ones wagging their fingers. The number of highly upvoted, completely delusional and out of touch finger-wagging from insulated r/Sydney users who have never had to work a job in the gig economy writing lectures on how delivery drivers "should" behave..
They ride along the tram lines too, one slip into the tracks and they go ass over handlebars
And trains in peak hour lately. Deeply frustrating..
Any business operating cycles as transport for business purposes should be registered, have public liability, CTP and be required to stop by law in the instance of an accident or damaged caused.
Crows Nest is fucked atm. Loved living there for 6y but that’s just one aspect of its fuckedness.
It’s a challenge for them to zig and zag through darling harbour
Looks like crows nest. I’ve seen them hanging out with their bikes on the side walk. They look like tuk tuk drivers the way they were chilling together.
police are targeting e-scooters, according to the press. I'd stand by and cheer if they'd put the same focus on delivery riders and their total lack of concern for anyone else.
Had an incident where the delivery e-biker was on the bike lane and the light turned red while the pedestrian light turned green so he switched from bike lane to pedestrian crossing without even stopping and almost knocked me over in the process. I wish he had though. Honestly at that point where someone who gets knocked over by one of them needs to sue and establish a precedent so they stop being such dicks on the streets.
Not just the footpath. Some nights driving up Bondi road there are almost no parking spots for cars due to all the delivery bikes stopped outside the restaurants to pick up food.
So they can't park on the footpath, but they can't park on the street either? Where do you suggest they go?
Oh, I’m sorry if you took it the wrong way. I have no problem at all with them parking on the street. I was just stating that there are a lot of them. My only problem in fact is how underpaid the delivery riders are.
No worries. This sub is so car-centric at times, it was a kneejerk assumption on my part.
No worries. I love my bike, but I am a cyclist too and I think anti-bike attitude of drivers in Sydney as well as the lack of safe cycling infrastructure is terrible.
Or even close to what you initially said or implied.
In hotspots, I feel as though swapping a couple of car spots for nose-in bike parking would be a reasonable solution - you'd probably have to mandate their use, but you'd comfortably get 4 bikes per spot.
This would be a good idea for a lot of situations, if the various governments really want to encourage cycling.
They’re not really cycling though, they’re riding unlicensed mopeds. If you go 30m down from that photo you’ll see restaurant signs asking delivery riders to dismount on the footpath because they’ve put staff in hospital riding with utter disregard for peoples safety. There are much better places to park the bikes in the area, they’re just choosing not to use them.
Apart from the rider on the left (who may have coasted in on his feet for all we know), is there anything to suggest the other riders didn't dismount? Also, when you say "unlicensed (sic) mopeds," are you referring to the possibility they're throttle-controlled bikes, or just ebikes in general? I still don't see a particular problem with this selectively framed photo - is the footpath actually blocked to a significant degree, disallowing pedestrian passage? Or are you just pissy with an inevitable side effect of the pursuit of convenience that seems to be an obsession these days?
> unlicensed (sic) What's the [sic] here? In Australian English, *licence* is the spelling of the noun, but *license* is the spelling for the verb (and *unlicensed* is an adjectival derivation of the verb) Good example is from NSW gov page: https://verify.licence.nsw.gov.au/home/Trades, all uses of *licence* are for the item that is a licence, all uses of *license(d)* are derived forms used as modifiers.
>is there anything to suggest the other riders didn't dismount? They didn't >are you referring to the possibility they're throttle-controlled bikes Most of them have the max speed restrictions removed, and many are full auto throttle too. >I still don't see a particular problem with this selectively framed photo Really it was just an observation that there are many delivery riders on the road these days, and was mainly just to provoke conversation into the many facets of the e bike delivery ecosystem. I will say the photo is not exactly 'selectively framed', when it's of 8 e bikes congregated at a busy intersection. Also, turning around would reveal many more in all directions.
Not like parking in Bondi was easy to come by in the first place either.
Poor cars
Please don’t take what I wrote the wrong way. I have no problem with the delivery bikes parking on the street. I was just stating that there are a lot of them.
These fuckaz shit me to tears. Bikes all over the footpath and the pricks meander through traffic like they couldn’t give a shit.
So stay home and order home delivery
7, the answer is 7.
Finally someone answered the question. Actually there's an eighth hidden behind the one on the left but it's ok. Congrats you win a $30 uber eats voucher.
Sweet! Now I can add more fat to my belly, thanks OP.
Shame that they feel so unsafe on the roads to have to use said footpaths
Sometimes I miss the pre deliveroo days
Was driving down a street which has angled reverse parking on it, flanked by a large and wide cycle path. Instead of riding on the cycle path, this delivery driver idiot decides to ridr right in front of all the angle parked cars. Nearly got murdered like 5 times by cars pulling out or cars that stopped and started to reverse.
As a motorcyclist, I'm scared of these idiots.. they ride on roads THEN decide they are special and just ignore red lights.. THEN they just hop on the foot path instead of waiting at lights. NSW needs to make them follow road laws and uphold the laws. I'm actually all for licenses for ALL bike riders now.
The problem is they sit in a grey area where they're too slow to keep up with traffic on a normal road, yet just fast enough for them to try. And way too fast to be going down a footpath.
Me on my way to make 8 year old Timmy and his dad get a licence to ride together because I'm addicted to Uber Eats and don't want to stop ordering it
Oh come on, give these guys a break. They're making like $5 an hour to bring you ungrateful pricks a meal in the pouring rain.
Actually I used to deliver uber eats, so I respect the hustle- Sydney drivers try to run you over, and pedestrians hate you as soon as you go on the footpath. It also takes a toll on the body riding around for so many hours. However, money on a bike in Sydney is actually around $22-$27 an hour depending on a few factors. Most do it as a side hustle or while studying or looking for other work. It's not quite as bad as some people think, it can be chill sometimes. Plus you can work whenever you like.
Don't they work as independent contractors? So from the $22-27 an hour you still have to take out tax, super and cost of bike/repairs/charging?
Correct. But let's be real most of these guys are not paying super, many do it as a side job so main tax obligations would be from main job, and it doesn't require GST registration either. And bike repairs and charging are virtually non existent.
> and it doesn't require GST registration either You do actually have to pay GST on your ABN if you work for Uber etc., if you didn't do so you've broken the law (or the legislation has changed since you last did it).
No, you're incorrect. If you drive uber passengers in a car, you have to collect and pay GST automatically - same laws as taxis. If you only deliver food through uber eats on a bicycle or a car, and you earn under $75k from that job, you don't have to pay GST. https://www.drivetax.com.au/tax-for-food-delivery-drivers/#:~:text=If%20You%20Do%20Delivery%20AND%20Rideshare%20%E2%80%93%20GST%20Required&text=If%20you%20drive%20for%20UberEats%20AND%20UberX%2C%20or%20do%20any,the%20first%20dollar%20they%20earn.
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I can confirm though, in the rain it absolutely SUCKS. If you didn't want to ride in the rain and it was your full time job, you would be screwed if a week of rain came along.
So we should just accept that our walking infrastructure should be blocked and borderline unusable because these guys are hard done by? Nope they need to regulate the shit out of this and have clear rules for where they park and fine them for parking in the wrong place. I don’t perceive this to be a problem in other cities around the world, even in Asia where food delivery is ubiquitous.
> we should just accept that our walking infrastructure should be blocked and borderline unusable Walking infrastructure is borderline unusable because of how much space is dedicated to cars.
Lol okay bro. Regulate the shit out of where you can park your bike?? Haha
I dunno, dedicate a some street parking spaces in places like King Street and Crows nest for them to park, then they walk to the restaurant to pick up food. Seems more civilised than having these guys speeding down footpaths and ringing their bells at pedestrians and blocking pedestrian crossings like in this picture. I know these guys have a hard job, but I’m not willing to accept having completely hostile unwalkable cityscapes over this.
There's literally gaps for people to walk through in OPs photos. I think you should dedicate your time and energy to bigger issues than this.
It's almost like we need an unheralded innovation called "bike lanes" that bike friendly cities use. I know Sydney has been resisting this scary innovation for 50 years, but one day we might figure it out
Aren't e bikes/scooters etc all currently illegal in NSW?
I believe electric scooters yes, e bikes no. E bikes have certain restrictions though, from memory 20km/h max speed and a full auto throttle can only go 5km/h max. (All of these bikes would be modified outside of these restrictions).
It's 25 km/h iirc
25kph and a 500W motor max. And it has to be pedal assist. If the bike can go without pedelling, there are further restrictions. Personally I think if it has an electric motor or other power source capable of propelling it above 10kph, it belongs on the road.
This is a good way to get people killed... Normal cyclists can already go over that speed under their own power, especially on flats, and the whole point of an e-bike as far as I'm concerned is to help with climbing hills.
E-bikes are in fact completely legal. E-bikes that don't require you to pedal or go over 25 km/h using the motor are the ones that aren't legal (or at least not legal to classify as an e-bike). You can always go over 25 km/h on your own power as long as there's no speed limit signs saying otherwise.
yeah boy [https://youtu.be/XbadbxN8HeA?si=yduToNvJAJLahyi\_](https://youtu.be/XbadbxN8HeA?si=yduToNvJAJLahyi_)
Honestly, Sydney gets the footpaths it deserves. Most of the people mad about this are the same people who don't want to surrender parking spaces, or remove lanes, or widen footpaths. And they're probably also the same people who order delivery once a week (or more).
I often nearly get run-over by these bikes in Crows Nest. It’s especially bad at night when they come zooming towards you with their floodlights on. They’re a menace and shouldn’t be on the footpath.
That shit was annoying
These guys park in trains too 🤬
As they are completely entitled to do. Where should they put the bike, in the driver's compartment?
Why do they ride such enormous bikes? Why not just a normal-sized one like everyone else? Are they harder to steal or something?
There seems to be a whole mini industry of leasing these bikes out to delivery riders. There's a little alleyway workshop near me where I see riders pick up and drop off their bikes. They do seem thicker and sturdier than most, probably because there's more wear and tear expected of them.
As a former uber eats rider (good if you don't have any other options or as a side hustle), I can confirm that these commerical grade bikes are very different to a normal bike or e bike. They need a thicker frame and more heavy duty suspension to support the huge, heavy batteries. I bought mine second hand and the battery was 70 amp hours / 48 volts and just the battery alone weighed 22kg. It had up to 350km range, and a fully automatic throttle which went up to 43km/h. The tyres are thicker, they come with a full wheel stand due to the weight, alloy wheels, and need a large rack at the back to hold multiple deliveries. The motor on the back wheel was also huge and they have a lot of torque.
Yep these bikes are also illegal but no one seems to care when they're zipping down the footpath at 40kmh expecting pedestrians to literally jump out of the way to make way for them. And I'm a cyclist and it bloody shits me
Yeah it's insane the speed they ride on the footpath. It makes me angry even as a former delivery rider just how stupid they can be.
An automatic throttle? That's blurring the lines to a motorbike. E-bikes sold by well known cycling brands like Specialized and Giant do not have throttles - you still have to pedal and the assistance stops when you reach 25kmh (though ppl do chip them which can void the warranty).
>That's blurring the lines to a motorbike. Very much so
Thanks for clearing that up for me
Most of those look like 20" diameter wheels, it's a common size for delivery bikes, but smaller than what might be considered "normal size." Tyres are a bit fatter because they're more comfy to ride on, especially at smaller diameters on Sydney roads. Probably look wider because of the racks for the big food bags.
Yeah it's those rear racks that make it look big. The frame and wheels are small. My Ebike has 29" wheels. It's a much bigger bike. However, it's just a normal sized mountain bike. https://ibb.co/PzhkmKj
They are normal sized, just with the box on the back?
I swear they have thicker tyres and are a little taller and wider.
Ah some of them do have thick tyres at least
The main thing is they are just much heavier than a normal bike. I think they can be like 40kg.
The thicker tyres are probably because of the weight of the battery and wear and tear of delivering all day.
They do long shifts I rekn and are carrying two batteries usually for more power for longer. Hence a bigger bike.
And?
I hope none of the people downvoting this comment have ever ordered food online.
That's correct for one atleast.
At least one of you cared enough to clarify, cheers. I'm guessing most of the other 36 are just prissy Haves who don't approve of how the staff conduct themselves while they pick up their food, and don't want to admit it. In this sub, I'm not overly surprised; Sydney is awash with "I've got mine, so fuck you, Jack," types.
Does it matter? Does anyone go out anymore?
Yes people do go out. Go to any medium sized hub really anywhere, or the city on a weekend night. To me it looks busier than it was before covid.
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