Bud Couriers, which stands for Bespoke Urban Deliveries, is the brainchild of Newcastle-based entrepreneur James Tyer…
Caroline Dask
Journalist at Luxe
You might have seen one of these chunky-looking bicycles riding around the city of Newcastle, and with a team of five highly skilled and highly trained staff, Bud Couriers is a well-oiled machine.
A quick look on Bud Courier’s website suggests James’s business is Newcastle’s biggest cargo bike delivery company, with a goal to replace a quarter of the delivery vehicles in the city.
What might seem and sound like a straightforward goal, is one James has been trying to achieve since 2021 – when he started his business. Day in, day out, Bud Couriers is working with local businesses to deliver their products faster, cleaner and much healthier.
When you think about it, it makes sense! While Newcastle is a beautiful city full of life, history and culture, it’s also known for its small (but oh-so-charming!) streets, a population reaching almost 830,000 and most recently introduced, clean air zones, which charge older, more polluting vehicles a fee for driving around the city centre.
Bud Couriers works hard to provide an alternative way to make sure you, as a customer or a local shop owner, get your products quickly (thanks to bike-friendly accessible shortcuts), sustainably (thanks to this green bike initiative) and, therefore, more cost-efficiently.
While Bud Couriers has a good range of clients in 2024, I’m curious about what led you to start your own company?
I was born and bred in Newcastle, and my background is in sales. My first job was with a pyramid scheme selling scratch cards – questionable, but it taught me valuable sales techniques. Over time, I moved through various roles, from sports equipment to oil and gas. While lucrative, the latter didn’t align with my values and when the pandemic hit, the instability in my job made me rethink things.
To keep busy, I started working for delivery apps like Uber Eats. As a cyclist who rides track bikes – simple, no-gear bikes used by couriers in the 90s – I enjoyed it. But I quickly saw how exploitative these platforms were, squeezing both restaurants and riders.
That led me to think about starting my own courier service, inspired by those 90s couriers. Back then, they delivered legal documents and plans – essential before email. Today, I realised businesses needed larger items transported, like kegs of beer or crates of bread.
I reached out to local businesses – coffee roasters, cheesemongers, breweries – and discovered a gap I could fill using cargo bikes. These bikes can carry as much as a van, up to a quarter of a tonne with trailers but with significant advantages. They’re faster in city centres since they bypass traffic using cycle lanes and back routes and they’re cheaper due to lower operating costs.
Most importantly, they’re eco-friendly, with zero emissions, which appeals to businesses wanting to support sustainability.
So, I combined my love of cycling, my sales experience and a desire to create something better for the community. That’s how Bud Couriers began – offering efficient, sustainable and reliable local deliveries.
Could you tell me a little bit about your team and how difficult it is to drive a cargo bike?
We’re currently a team of five. The first few years it was pretty much just me. I started the business on a DIY cargo bike that I built together and put an electric motor on. In fact, it was an electric bike with a little trailer! At the moment, we have three cargo bikes, two trailers and plenty of electric bikes.
As for the difficulty of driving a bike like that, the people at Bud Couriers are professionals. The bikes are not something that you immediately get used to, it’s a little more complex than riding a simple bike. But our people are trained and there is a tiered structure on the work which the guys can take.
One of the companies we work with is a canapes company, so these are small, little items, so if a rider hits a pothole too hard, that is not going to bode well for the food turning up at its location. So, our people know each individual pothole in Newcastle.
How important is community collaboration for Bud Couriers?
As a business, we’re very much all about Newcastle. I have no plans to expand into neighbouring cities, however, we do plan to expand into places such as Team Valley and down the coast, but we’re very much committed to being the best cargo bike delivery service in Newcastle.
We work with a lot of local businesses such as Pink Lane Bakery, Grate, Northern Rye and more. I think, what we’re trying to do is give businesses the ability to reach their potential. Many smaller businesses can’t afford to operate their own delivery service – purchasing a cargo bike or van alone can cost upwards of £10,000, which isn’t feasible for many.
By offering a pay-per-delivery model, we provide a cost-effective solution that allows these businesses to expand their reach and access new revenue streams without the upfront investment.
Beyond supporting businesses, we’re committed to giving back through partnerships with charities and community interest groups. For instance, we provide delivery services to help local charities operate more efficiently, ensuring resources and donations are distributed where they’re needed most.
Since the start of Bud Couriers, what’s been the biggest challenge you faced and how did you overcome it?
The biggest challenge we’ve faced is communicating why we do things the way we do. Many businesses don’t initially see how cargo bikes can meet their delivery needs, especially when they imagine bikes as small or limited.
However, the reality is that a significant portion of city-centre deliveries – around a quarter – are either for very short distances (less than two miles) or involve vehicles that are mostly empty. Using large vans for such jobs seems inefficient and unnecessary, especially in busy city environments.
That said, we recognise that cargo bikes aren’t the perfect solution for every situation. For example, large, long-distance deliveries might still require a van. But where we excel is in short, city-centre deliveries, where bikes are faster, more cost-effective and sustainable.
Another hurdle has been demonstrating just how much these bikes can handle. People usually are not aware that our bikes can carry up to 250 kilogrammes- about the weight of three refrigerators. It’s not what most people picture when they think of delivery bikes, so we’ve had to prove our capability over time.
How do you manage the balance between running a growing business and maintaining a personal life?
I don’t think I have mastered the balance between my personal life and running a business! I think it’s more about managing the two where it coincides well together. Up until probably six months ago I worked every single day with just Christmas Day off.
I think within the past three years, up until recently, I had maybe five or six days off, which kind of started to test me a little bit. But recently, I have started to take Sundays off, so that’s been nice.
Running a business is a 24/7 thing, so I’m always thinking about work. However, on the days when it does get a little hard and maybe the weather is not the best, I just remind myself that every day I get to speak to different business owners and genuinely help them.
Bud Couriers, as a company, is keen to give a bespoke service to each one of our customers. So, none of our deliveries are the same. We even do magazine distribution and the guys will go into each site, nicely display them and then for next month, we’ll take into account how many magazines have been left from the previous month, so the business can adjust the stock. We aim to be a friend to local businesses and that is probably the most rewarding part of the job.
What are your three luxe things in life?
That’s a hard question! I might not have three, but one of the things that I can’t go without is my earbuds. One of the things about this work is you’re using your body and your mind to check things out and avoid traffic, but it’s the ears that are not as occupied. I call it the ‘University of the Bike’ because I’m constantly listening to lectures and podcasts. I genuinely believe I’ve learned more on that bike than I ever did at school.
Find our more about Bud Couriers by visiting budcouriers.co.uk.
