Bicycle messenger service beats traffic with two-wheelers

Montri Chantayingyong’s Bikexenger brings bicycle courier culture to Bangkok

Everyday, Montri Chantayingyong, 38, rides more than 100km around Bangkok. He doesn’t ride his bicycle for leisure or to explore the city, though, Montri rides for a living. He is the founder of bicycle courier service Bikexenger, and works as a courier himself.

Bicycle courier services are still a relatively new thing in Bangkok, and in the busy city, where people often resort to motorcycles whenever speed is a priority, bicycle delivery services tend to remain overshadowed.

This, Montri believes, is quite unfair. “Many people feel that motorcycles are the fastest for delivering things, but that’s not always true,” Montri adds.

“There always comes a time when motorcycle couriers get stuck in traffic. Instead, bike couriers are free spirits on the road and can keep going in a traffic meltdown.”

Indeed, punctuality is actually one of the things that Montri prides Bikexenger on.

“Tardiness is a weakness of Thai people, so punctuality is my selling point,” Montri says. “Whenever I tell my first-time customers that delivery by bicycle is more punctual, they don’t believe me and want to try us. After I deliver that promise, they become loyal customers.”

Established in 2012, the business offers a range of services similar to those by motorcycle courier services, covering Bangkok and accepting everything for delivery.

The two things that Bikexenger delivers most are documents and food, although there has been some unexpected items like a pillow, a wand and a doll. “The weirdest thing that Bikexenger ever had to deliver was a single can of beer,” Montri says.

The services come at different prices, according to distance travelled and weight of the parcel being delivered. The cheapest service starts at 100 baht for delivery within a district. Inter-district couriers, such as from Sathon to Rangsit, can cost up to 800 baht.

Because Bikexenger is one of the first pioneering delivery service providers in the city, social media is fond of Montri, with many of his customers coming courtesy of the traffic he receives through his website and Facebook page.

Montri has four employees in his team who work full-time, which is enough to support the current customer list. Whenever there are more customers, he employs part-time cyclists, which, he says, are easy to find due to the growing number of cyclists.

All of his employees need to pass a rigorous test, though, one that he himself has developed. Montri says the test helps ward off youngsters who just want the job for money.

“I look for passion,” Montri says. “Passion is the main ingredient in doing this job. Because without it, you can’t do the job.”

Montri took up cycling in 2005 after returning to Bangkok from working as a factory engineer in many provinces for more than 10 years. The only bad thing about being back home, he found, was the traffic.

“I grew up here so I knew what the traffic was like,” Montri said. “I told myself I would never drive a car or ride a bus. So if I wanted to get to somewhere, I would just walk.”

Montri eventually bought a bicycle though and started using it everywhere. At the same time, he became part of a biking community he found on the internet and joined them on the road.

Occasionally, the group would help raise money and buy new bicycles for underprivileged children or fix their broken bicycles.

The turning point and Montri’s “Eureka” moment was when the group helped the family of a group member, who was struggling to sell more than 10,000 mooncakes. The group offered a free delivery service, using their bicycles, and the cakes sold out in no time.

Inspired, the group wrote a proposal using the model of the mooncakes success to Thai Social Enterprise Office and received a 50,000 baht fund to organise a six-month charity project, 30% of the revenue generated was donated to impoverished children.

When the project was complete, many of the members returned to their full-time jobs, but Montri quit his job and began work as a cycle courier and formed Bikexenger.

“To be professional at what you do, you have to have some craziness because that means you are crazy enough to carry it through,” Montri said. “The thing I’m most proud of is the fact that I can maintain such a job.”

Tardiness is a weakness of Thai people, so punctuality is my selling point