DoorDash: The Sustainability Benefits of Two Wheels
For decades, vehicles with four or more wheels have ruled the roads – but across North America, more people are starting to choose two wheels.
Scooters, e-bikes and bicycles, to name a few, can help to address congestion, street safety and sustainability, particularly in cities where traffic gets bad.
DoorDash's How Two-Wheeled Deliveries Help Drive Local Commerce report looks at the impact these vehicles can have.
“Cities that effectively support two-wheeled devices can expect to experience a virtuous cycle that amplifies these benefits for everyone,” says Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean, Chief Corporate Affairs Office at DoorDash, in the report.
“DoorDash has worked to increase the share of deliveries completed using two-wheeled devices on our platform, and we’re glad innovative policymakers are recognising the benefits they can play for their local economies.”
About DoorDash
DoorDash is the largest food delivery service in the United States with a market share of more than 50%.
More than 20 million consumers, 450,000 merchants and a million delivery couriers use the platform.
The business was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in California, USA.
In 2024, DoorDash had 685 million orders and its total revenue was US$2.9bn.
What are the benefits of two-wheeled deliveries?
DoorDash’s report says that two-wheeled vehicles provide delivery couriers more flexible, low-barrier earnings opportunities and help merchants to connect with more customers more easily.
For communities, two-wheeled vehicles can help to create safer and more liveable towns and cities.
Over the course of a year, DoorDash estimates that deliveries made by couriers on two wheels saved more than 150,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.
Even petrol-powered scooters can offer emissions reductions comparable to electric vehicles.
The sustainability impact for DoorDash
Among all vehicle types with motors, e-bikes have the lowest carbon emissions per mile, the report says.
DoorDash says that increasing deliveries on two-wheeled vehicles is an important part of its sustainability strategy which also includes helping couriers to switch to fuel-efficient cars like hybrids or electric vehicles.
During a one month period in 2024, more than 40 million miles were travelled via two-wheeled vehicles to complete DoorDash deliveries.
It estimates that over the course of a year this would save carbon emissions compared to fossil fuel powered cars comparable to the energy use of 21,000 homes for a year.
Where are two-wheeled vehicles making an impact?
San Francisco, California has a 76% share of deliveries on two wheels covering more than 1.6 million miles.
San Mateo and Walnut Creek are two more Californian cities topping the list.
New York had more than three million two-wheeled miles travelled across a 61% share of two-wheeled deliveries.
Toronto, Canada also made DoorDash’s list with a 32% share of deliveries on two wheels and nearly 400,000 miles travelled.
What DoorDash is doing to expand two-wheeled vehicles
DoorDash says it is actively working to encourage delivering on two wheels and hopes to accelerate these efforts.
It is improving its platform to offer better batching to account for the distance between pick-up and drop-off locations including information like:
- A courier’s location
- The size and weight of deliveries
- The availability of bike lanes and other bike infrastructure.
It has also prioritised couriers on two-wheeled devices for shorter distance deliveries in urban centres.
It is expanding access to safe two-wheeled devices through partnerships with e-bike manufacturers such as Whizz and Dirwin that offer exclusive discounts for DoorDash couriers.
DoorDash is also a partner of the Equitable Commute Project which helps its couriers and other delivery workers in New York City trade in older e-bikes and e-bike batteries for newer models.
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