Environmental Leader

UPS is now employing leg muscles as a new fuel-saving strategy. After a pilot run in 2007, the company is now adding bicycle carriers to meet its holiday demand, New York Times reports.

The company typically delivers around 15.8 million packages a day, but that volume jumped to more than 20 million packages a day during the five-days before Christmas last year.

Although each UPS bike delivery system can carry only 15 to 20 packages per trip, the company estimates that for every three bikes deployed during peak season on the West Coast, it will save around 17 gallons of fuel per day and about $38,000 in vehicle maintenance costs.

UPS first started experimenting with bikes last year in New Hampshire and Maine. This year the bike delivery service has been expanded to Washington, California, Tennessee and Oregon.

In November, UPS announced that it is expanding its green fleets in the UK and Germany after nine months of successful trials.

Earlier this year, the company ordered seven hydraulic hybrid vehicles which are scheduled for delivery in early 2009.

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