Before smartphones, electronic signatures and GPS, Pittsburgh\u2019s bike messengers raced against the clock, traffic and topography challenges.<\/p>\n
On any given day in the early 1990s, Greg Park might be pedaling a stack of legal documents from one Downtown Pittsburgh law office to another, balancing architectural drawings through rush-hour traffic or racing with a bundle of fur coats across the city before a department store closed for the day.<\/p>\n
There were no smartphones to provide directions. No GPS to reroute around traffic \u2014 not even any bike lanes to offer protection.<\/p>\n
Just a fold-out paper street map, a single-speed bicycle and a deadline.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was one of the greatest jobs and best times of my life,\u201d Park said. \u201cThere isn\u2019t a day that goes by that I don\u2019t look back and think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
For nearly two decades, beginning in the late 1980s, Park was among the bike messengers who helped keep the Downtown business community moving. The messengers hustled contracts, court filings, blueprints and countless other time-sensitive deliveries across the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely isn\u2019t anywhere near what it was during the heyday,\u201d said Park, 56, of Squirrel Hill. \u201cThere are still a few guys out there, but most of the work now is lunch deliveries and DoorDash.\u201d<\/p>\n
The industry that once thrived gradually faded as fax machines disappeared, electronic signatures became commonplace and businesses no longer needed someone to physically shuttle paperwork across town.<\/p>\n
Park\u2019s introduction to messenger life came almost by accident.<\/p>\n
While attending the University of Pittsburgh, he combed through the Yellow Pages, found Triangle Messenger\u2019s phone number and called.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey hired me on the spot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He had recently moved to the South Side, where his apartment rented for just $235 a month.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was kind of a charmed time to be a late teen or early 20-year-old,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Triangle Messenger operated out of Bingham Street on the South Side before later relocating to Josephine Street. After several years, Park joined competitor Jet Messenger, where he spent about 15 years.<\/p>\n
Every morning, the messenger garage filled with an eclectic mix of riders waiting for dispatches.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt like walking into an episode of (the TV show) \u2018Taxi,\u2019\u2009\u201d Park said. \u201cThere were all these characters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many were musicians, artists or young people just drawn to the job\u2019s flexibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the people doing it weren\u2019t looking for corporate careers,\u201d he said. \u201cThey wanted enough money to pay rent, buy food and have the freedom to do what they loved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Messengers worked as independent contractors, meaning every delivery represented another paycheck \u2014 think Uber and Lyft of the 1980s and \u201990s.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you didn\u2019t work, you didn\u2019t make money,\u201d Park said. \u201cBut if you wanted to work, you could always make money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Learning the city was part of the job.<\/p>\n
Without GPS, new addresses meant unfolding a paper map on a street corner. Experience eventually replaced maps as riders memorized office buildings, shortcuts and customer routines.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had to have paper maps,\u201d Park said. \u201cEventually you just knew where everything was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cycling through Pittsburgh was a lot different than it is today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were no bike lanes,\u201d he said. \u201cBack then, you were kind of a pariah. Drivers just weren\u2019t used to cyclists.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bikes at Triangle were simple: sturdy single-speed machines with large carrier baskets and coaster brakes built to withstand constant abuse.<\/p>\n
The cargo could be almost anything.<\/p>\n
One regular assignment became known as the \u201cfur run.\u201d Nearly every day, Park transported fur coats from Horne\u2019s department store to a cleaner for embroidery work before returning them.<\/p>\n
Other days involved emergency legal filings that demanded speed and precision.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d pick up a package at a law firm, get it signed and bring it back,\u201d he said. \u201cThose were the sweet runs because everyone was waiting on you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Messengers biked through snow, freezing rain and summer heat. Park remembers dodging pedestrians, avoiding aggressive geese near the riverfront on the North Shore and hearing about fellow riders crashing into the river after swerving to avoid obstacles.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe were fearless,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Looking back, he marvels at some of the routes he routinely tackled in and around the city and its hills.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone who did that job was in incredible shape,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Christopher Bobnar, who helped found Jet Messenger in Pittsburgh, said insurance rates eventually became the downfall of bike messengers.<\/p>\n
\u201cInsurance rates were the absolute reason why they went away,\u201d he told me. \u201cThere were a lot of injuries. There were a lot of good athletes that got into it, but also a lot of people who got hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n