Swap white vans for e-cargo bikes, says campaign group

Just Ride the Bike, PedalMe and Phil Jones associates launch pilot project

Active travel consultancy Just Ride the Bike is working with the City of London Corporation, Phil Jones Associates and PedalMe to fast-track an e-cargo bike pilot scheme for companies needing to maintain freight service levels in a post-lockdown UK.

The trio said that the spate of emergency road closures across the country, widening of footways and the creation of new pop-up cycleways mean that bikes will be the fastest way of getting around cities like London, Manchester and Birmingham as the UK eases slowly back to work. To stay competitive, delivery companies, facilities managers, service engineers and construction firms urgently need to rethink their logistics plans, shifting vehicle movements to e-cargo bikes in and around cities. The group is asking such firms to step forward and be part of the solution, with some in Wales, Manchester and London already showing interest in the proposals.

Encouraged by the £2 billion long-term package to put cycling and walking at the heart of the UK transport policy announced by Transport Secretary, Rt Hon Grant Shapps, many local authorities are already rolling out measures to make it harder for vehicles to access dense urban areas. Support service providers with a business model reliant on using motorised transport for mobile response teams or mobile engineers will need to adapt fast, said Just Ride the Bike. "The attractive, cost-efficient, and environmentally-sound option is to move as many journeys as achievable to e-cargo bikes."

The City of London Corporation, which was already seeking to mitigate the impact of freight and servicing activity in the Square Mile, is now considering this in the context of supporting socially-distant travel for over half a million employees.

Its 25-year Transport Strategy seeks a 30% reduction to the number of motorised freight and servicing vehicles by 2044 – with 90% of this activity to take place outside peak hours. With half of vans estimated to be undertaking servicing activity in the City, the strategy commits to developing a sustainable servicing plan to reduce the number of motor vehicles required to undertake this essential activity.

Just Ride the Bike is calling for service providers to shift their operations from vans to e-cargo bikes as soon as possible to adapt to emergency transport planning measures, maintain productivity and pursue a sustainable servicing plan. High-tech e-assist cargo bikes can move loads of up to 150kg, even without a trailer. Organisations such as FedEx, DHL, Co-op, the Royal Mail, and the NHS (for blood supplies) are already using e-cargo bikes for the last mile of their deliveries.

“Our standard research model develops a strong business case leading to an e-cargo bike pilot scheme that we manage, measuring performance and assessing productivity," said Dr David Land of Just Ride the Bike. "But the call from the Department of Transport and plans of farsighted local authorities such as the City of London make that business case much more urgent.

"We want to work with service providers such as facilities managers, estates teams and building services organisations to set up a pilot scheme right now. This will show how they can easily adapt to deliver business continuity, whilst delivering sustainable logistics and service support.”

Across the UK councils are rapidly planning; some boroughs, cities and regions are further ahead than others, but the objective is the same: reduce vehicle traffic and prioritise walking and cycling.

“Facilities managers, builders and service engineers need to adapt now because this change is likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future. We want to facilitate change by setting up scalable pilot schemes as soon as possible,” said Dr Land.

 

Contact andrew@justridethebike.com or 07795 547069 for further information, or to be part of a pilot.