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UberEATS: friend or foe?
It is impossible to imagine our streets without meal delivery services anymore. In the Netherlands, consumers get more than 300 million meals delivered this year. There are more than 50,000 meal deliveries in Amsterdam every evening.
The growing army of delivery bikes and scooters from Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat don’t respect any traffic rule. Driving through red lights, over the sidewalks, all in a hurry. The results: many dead and injured meal delivery drivers, often without insurance.
At first, I thought it would bring something good to the neighborhood. Nice to see all those young delivery men and women on their bikes. Really an Amsterdam picture. We love bikes. But with the growth in home delivery restaurants, more and more of those bikes and scooters are on the doorstep of those restaurants. Blocking the sidewalks in my neighborhood. Is it time for reclaiming public space and regulating the home delivery restaurant? Just like we have permits for terraces.
Home delivery brings extra sales for the restaurants. Their consumers appreciate it. But, will all those nice neighborhood restaurants survive this home delivery trend? I hope so.
Or, will home delivery become the domain of the central soup kitchens of the large restaurant chains that are advertised ‘top of the list’ on the website or app? I have a nightmare about ‘dark kitchens’ on…
