The bike messenger is still alive and well in Boston

Technology, bad weather and pedestrians be dammed

By LIZ PELLY | May 11, 2011

Liz Pelly interviews three bike messengers about their work in Boston

We're told that technological advances are killing the bike-courier business, yet messengers still zip around downtown Boston every day, carrying packages to law firms and courthouses. There's even a Boston Bike Messenger Association, a registered 501(c)6 nonprofit, to proove their presence. Messengers spend their days dodging careless pedestrians and angry drivers in a city not known to be the friendliest for bikers, so it makes sense that they can be surly and aggressive about their intriguingly intense livelihood. Since they seem to have strong perspectives on our local bike culture, we had to track down a few. And though these guys were quick to explain they're pretty new to the field — they've been at it for one to three years, while some messengers work for decades — they've already racked up a few interesting war stories.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | next >

Topics: Lifestyle Features , bike culture, pedestrians, cyclists, More

| More

Most Popular

The Current Issue

Table of Contents

Cover Archive

Masthead | Authors | Contact us

Blogs

Where To Follow Me
Talking Politics | March 24, 2013 at 11:09 AM

Mo Takes His Turn
March 21, 2013 at 12:59 PM

[Q&A] KMFDM's Sascha Konietzko on art, Columbine and having balls
On The Download | March 18, 2013 at 3:22 PM

See this film series: The Belmont World Film Series @ Studio Cinema in Belmont
Outside The Frame | March 18, 2013 at 11:00 AM

See this film: This is Spinal Tap [with post-film talk by expert from Acoustical Society of America] @ the Coolidge
March 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM

ARTICLES BY LIZ PELLY

COLLECTIVE THINKING @ BLANC GALLERY | March 06, 2013
In 2010, a group of 20-something art and music enthusiasts transformed an unassuming basement space on Vancouver Street into YES.OUI.SI., a multi-media gallery and gathering spot for young talents that hosted dozens of visual-art shows, film screenings, literary readings, and experimental music performances.

PRIMORDIAL SOUNDS’ LABEL-READY LEARNING CURVE | February 20, 2013
Noah Bond's Allston apartment looks like an antique shop.

BEACH FOSSILS | CLASH THE TRUTH | February 20, 2013
Last year in an interview with the Phoenix , Dustin Payseur of Beach Fossils said his sophomore album would be inspired by "a lot of frustration from a lot of different sources."

ICEAGE | YOU'RE NOTHING | February 11, 2013
There's something intriguing about the ways Copenhagen punk band Iceage seem simultaneously to care so much and so little.

BEE-HAVIOR: ''FESTOONING THE INFLATABLE BEEHIVE'' AT BU'S 808 GALLERY | February 06, 2013
An art gallery may seem like an unconventional space for discussions on insect behavior, but Maria Molteni maintains beekeeping is as much an art as a science.