Peapod recently announced a new pilot to provide pickup of grocery orders at some of Washington DC’s Metro stations.  The pilot gives Peapod shoppers the option to select “pickup at a metro station” when checking out online, where they can grab their order from a Peapod attendant at the end of their commute.  Shoppers have the option of carrying bags from lockers, or they can pull their cars around to a designated area, where Peapod attendants will load the order into the shoppers car.

The pilot is planned to last for six months at three different metro stations.  Assuming all goes well, the initiative is expected to roll out to a broader swath of stations, reaching more commuters.  So far, the response from potential customers has been positive, so expansion seems likely.

Too busy to shop for groceries? Pick them up at your Metro station.

By Luz Lazo December 3

Forget that trip to the grocery store after work. Soon, you may be able to order your groceries online and pick them up as you exit the Metro.

The transit agency is negotiating an agreement with Giant Food to allow the chain’s in-house delivery service, Peapod, to set up distribution areas at the Fort Totten, Glenmont and Van Dorn Street Metro stations.

The six-month pilot program, which will be discussed at Thursday’s Metro board meeting, could begin as soon as next spring, and if successful would be expanded to more stations. The service would add an amenity for commuters and a potentially lucrative revenue source for the transit agency. If expanded beyond the pilot, Peapod, or another provider, would pay Metro a fee.

Metro and Giant officials said they are not aware of any other transit agency in the country offering such a service.

“It basically saves you a trip,” said Stan Wall, director of real estate and station planning at Metro. “As part of your daily routine, you can exit the station and pick up your bags of groceries and either walk, hop on a bus, or hop in a car to go home. It saves a trip and it is a big convenience for customers.”

 To use the service, Metro riders would place and pay for their order through Peapod’s online service with pickup options of 4 to 7 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Peapod would deliver the orders to special lockers at each station. An on-site attendant would distribute the groceries to customers. No money would change hands and no food would be stored overnight.

Metro riders also would have the option of pulling their vehicle into the station’s Kiss and Ride area and calling the Peapod attendant, who would then deliver the groceries to their car.

The Metro was a natural place to expand Peapod’s service, said Peg Merzbacher, a spokeswoman for Peapod by Giant. The Washington area also is a good test site for the initiative, she said, because of the large number of residents who use transit and who are pressed for time.

Grocery delivery and pickup services have grown exponentially in the Washington region in the past two years. Peapod has opened 52 pickup locations in the region, including one at a Chevy Chase gas station. Other services also have popped up, including Instacart, which delivers from Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, Costco and other grocers, and most recentlyGoogle Express, which provides same-day delivery from various stores including Giant.

 “We are thinking that it will really work for folks,” Merzbacher said. “They are already there, their cars are right there, and they will just need to pull up and the attendant will put their bag in their trunk and they can be on their way.”

 A successful pilot could lead to a broader rollout. Wall said the agency would look at expanding, especially to stations in areas where residents might not have access to full-service grocery stores. Should Metro decide to expand, the agency would solicit bids, so Peapod would have to compete with similar services for the long-term contract.

Metro, which is in the midst of a challenging budget process, also views the program as a revenue generator. During the pilot, the transit agency will not charge Peapod for providing the service, but the agency could benefit from advertising by the food delivery service. And, if the program expands, Metro would charge the winning bidder an as-yet undetermined fee.

 Sarah Alaoui, 24, a public relations professional who commutes daily from the Eastern Market Metro station to work near Foggy Bottom, said she welcomes anything that would help her avoid a crowded grocery store after work.

“That would make my life so much easier,” said Alaoui, who has used Peapod delivery in the past and now uses Instacart. Although she enjoys the convenience of having groceries delivered to her front door, she said she would like the option of picking them up at the Metro, which is a two-minute walk from her home. But she would prefer to have options beyond Giant.

“If they got Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods in the mix, then I will definitely use the Metro service,” she said. ”It is nice to have these options.”