Swap meet, party raise money for local bike group

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - First fax machines, then e-mail and now Internet court filings have cut hard into the bike messenger business.

More than ever, the couriers say, they need to stick together as the industry tightens and making a living becomes a greater challenge.

A number of the couriers formed the Charm City Bicycle Messenger Association late this summer, and the unincorporated nonprofit held its first official fundraiser Saturday.

The event consisted of a flea market and sprint contest, followed by a raging nightlong concert and soiree.

They are bike messengers, after all.

“It’s a swap meet, a race and then a party,” said Beth Wacks, a founder of the Velocipede Bike Project, which hosted the event at its workshop on West Lanvale Street in lower Charles Village.

There are five messenger companies in Baltimore — VMW, Laser, Rapid, Quick and Magic Messengers — and together they keep roughly 25 to 30 bike messengers pedaling each day.

The couriers, however, are not company employees. They’re independent contractors and do not receive benefits. They don’t have input into the type of insurance plan they are required to pay, the rates they’re paid or working conditions in general.

“There are unions in some cities, like New York and San Francisco, and in Chicago, one company recently hired bike messengers on as employees, but we’re a small city, and it’s harder to pull a significant group together,” said Bryan Bartsch, a messenger association leader.

Aaron Platt, another seasoned bike courier, said the company he’s hired through recently switched its payroll and insurance plan for its independent contractors to a firm that has been found guilty of insurance fraud.

“Right now, that’s the biggest issue everyone is concerned about,” Platt said.

“Rain pay, taxes, rates are things that maybe we can address down the road.”

The messenger association, however, is not just about the Monday through Friday, 9 to 5.

They want to update the association’s new Web site at charmcitybma.org with a calendar of events, add a section for posts and blogs, get the word out on local concert and artistic endeavors, organize their infamous Alley Cat races, and coordinate other activities, like trips to the annual North American and World Bicycle Messenger Championships.

“We need the group adhesion,” Platt said. “And we want to maintain the bike culture in this city. We’re hoping someday to bring the North American Championships [held in Philadelphia this summer], here, too.”

rcassie@baltimoreexaminer.com