David Snyder

From the first ring of his cell phone, it’s clear that David Snyder loves bicycles. The sounds of Queen’s 1978 song “Bicycle Race” greet each caller with, “I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike.”

Since he first learned to ride at 8 years old, that is exactly what the now 22-year-old Mr. Snyder has wanted to do.

So when he was looking for a way to make money and ride his bike at the same time, he came up with Eco Courier, a bike delivery service for downtown Chattanooga.

Staff Photo by Patrick Smith David Snyder rides across the Market Street Bridge to pick up a package on Thursday. Mr. Snyder is the owner of Eco Courier, a new bike courier service downtown.

“Bikes have always been a part of my life,” he said. “It’s funny, my hobby is bikes, and now my work is bikes, so I work and I ride my bike, and on the weekend, I ride my mountain bike.”

The plan for the new delivery service was hatched in July, when Mr. Snyder and friend and fellow cycling enthusiast Ryan Harris were talking about high gas prices and the need to get around downtown Chattanooga quickly and cheaply. At the time they began, gas prices were at an all-time high, hovering around $4 for a gallon of regular unleaded.

“I ride around downtown anyway,” he said. “So how can I help business out and make money?”

Mr. Harris decided to pursue other things, but Mr. Snyder stayed with it and jumped in head first, he said. He secured a lease for office space in the Flatiron Building on Georgia Avenue and began marketing his business. Because he already owned a couple of bikes, his initial investment totaled around $1,500, including rent.

“That’s part of the cool thing. I am just a kid on a bike,” he said.

His charges vary, but for a one-way delivery within Zone 1, which is a 1 1/2-mile radius of the Flatiron Building, the charge is $5. Most deliveries within that zone take under 10 minutes, he said. Since he’s on a bike, he said he has a significant advantage over cars and pedestrians when it comes to traveling around downtown, and there are no emissions.

“We have the same privileges as a pedestrian, but we also have the same privileges as a car,” he said.

Graphic designer Nicole Byrkit owns NB Creative on Long Street and has used Eco Courier several times in the last month. The cost of having Mr. Snyder make a delivery for her is more than worth the time and effort it saves her, she said.

Ms. Byrkit designs logos and recently had Mr. Snyder bring some postcards to her from the printer, and her day was not interrupted by having to get in the car and drive across downtown, she said.

“It’s fantastic,” she said. “It’s crazy no one has thought of this sooner.”

Mr. Snyder has lived in Chattanooga all his life and studied business at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Chattanooga State Technical Community College but has not completed his degree yet.

He plans to go back eventually, but he said he sees so many of his friends piling up student loans with no idea what they plan to major in yet, and he can’t bear the thought of wasting money to figure it out.

“I see this course of my life as business 101,” he said.