5 Ways To Use Your Bicycle To Make a Side Income

In the era of the side hustle, gig workers far and wide know all about the money they can make with their cars — but what about those people who opt for the greener, cleaner, cheaper option of transportation by bike?

If you roll on two wheels only, good news — you can earn a pretty penny just like your colleagues in cars.

Here’s a look at some of the ways you can turn your bike into a part-time gig or even a full-time job.

Most people know they can put their cars to work by delivering for DoorDash, but you can get in on the action even if you have only two wheels instead of four. The company encourages those considering bike delivery to exercise while they earn and keep the money they make instead of spending it on gas and vehicle maintenance — and since bikes can go places that cars can’t, many riders find that they can make more deliveries, and therefore more money, on a bicycle. According to Ridester, you can expect to earn around $15 per hour if you’re good. ZipRecruiter estimates typical pay to be $18 an hour.

Commanding more than half the market share in the U.S., DoorDash is the biggest food delivery service in America, according to Visual Capitalist — but it’s hardly the only game in town. According to BestReferralDriver.com, which created a full guide on delivering for Uber Eats on a bike, you can earn $15-$20 per hour pedaling perishables for the famous ride-share platform’s food delivery service. Grubhub also supports bicycle delivery in some locations.

If speed and precision are how you ride, and you’re up for the challenge of urban Frogger, you can put your bike to work with a side hustle as a bike courier — you can see them zipping around in just about every big city.

BikeMessenger24 is looking for couriers in every major metro in America, including New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, Dallas, San Francisco and more. It’s not for the faint of heart — you have to be fast and alert — but those who are up for the work can earn a legitimate living as bike couriers and messengers. According to Glassdoor, bike couriers in New York typically pull in just shy of $60,000 a year.

You certainly know about Airbnb, which lets you rent your home out to strangers who want to avoid hotels, and you might know about Turo, which lets you rent your car to people who don’t want to go to Hertz or Avis — but did you know you that there are bike-sharing services that follow the same business model?

Spinlister lets you list your bike for rent to nearby riders — and you can charge whatever you want, which means it’s up to you to get the most bang for your bike while still remaining competitive. Spinlister takes a 17.5% fee, which means that if your rent your bike out for $20, they’ll take $3.50.

If you don’t want to deliver food, things or messages, and you don’t want strangers riding off with your wheels, you can still earn some nice cash on the side by decking your bike out in advertisements. Ridevert will pay you up to $280 a month — that’s an extra $3,360 per year — for cruising around town with one of their partners’ lightweight ad banners affixed to your bike, which they’ll set you up with free of charge and track your miles through the company’s mobile app.