It’s becoming a familiar sight in Cambridge. An oversize van or truck is double-parked or squeezed between three parking meters to deliver goods to local establishments. Tempers flare as a line of cars inch their way around the idling vehicle. Traffic turns into a snarl. That scene rarely happens when Metro Pedal Power, the area’s unique human-powered grocery delivery service, is doing deliveries from local farms to over a dozen restaurants and other businesses.
On a recent summer afternoon, owner Wenzday Jane, 37 (pictured), is riding in an 8-by-4-foot black tricycle pulling a 50-cubic-foot container. Inside the silver and red unit are bags of freshly picked vegetables from Parker Farm in Lunenburg, about to be delivered to local restaurants.
At 5-feet-4, Jane is dwarfed by the 225-pound vehicle as she slowly pedals, maneuvering the bike lanes. She pulls up on the sidewalk for her delivery to Hungry Mother in Kendall Square, where chef Barry Maiden helps her carry in 10 pounds of green beans, another 10 of cauliflower, lettuces, mizuna, tatsoi, cucumbers, and fava beans, the chef’s personal favorite. Tonight, the restaurant’s market salad will showcase these vegetables.
Next stop is Rendezvous in Central Square. Jane parks the trike on the sidewalk again and hauls out five bunches each of ruby chard, fava beans, and summer squash. ‘‘It’s the lady with the chard,’’ announces owner Steve Johnson. He’s making dolmas with chard instead of grape leaves, finishing them with a tahini-like sauce of toasted pine nuts.
Jane heads to Metro Pedal’s offices outside Somerville’s Union Square, where a cargo bike, trailer, and six trikes round out her fleet. The entrepreneur envisioned having her own business, though never thought it would be a year-round delivery service. ‘‘It makes a lot of sense to me to be able to help out with making the streets more livable,’’ she says.
