FUTURE FREIGHT THE OF

Stewart Dring looks at how cargobikes are finally becoming the first choice for organisations seeking cleaner, greener transport

CARGOBIKES AND e-cargobikes are becoming an increasingly common sight in London and cities across the world, and here at LCC we have long promoted them as an alternative to vans and trucks. Alongside being a useful delivery tool for business, they offer so many positives. For delivery staff there’s the health benefits of cycling: better physical health, wellbeing and connection to the neighbourhoods they work in. Plus cargobikes are better for road safety as they present a lower risk to people walking and cycling than motorised transport.

They are also an important tool in decarbonisation and improving air quality. Reducing emissions from freight is essential if London’s roads are to be zero carbon by 2030. Transport for London states that 90% of all goods in London are moved around by road and that road freight is a major source of nitrogen dioxide emissions. Any reduction in this improves air quality and the health of Londoners.

E5 Bakehouse in Hackney was one of the pioneers in using cargobikes some 10 years ago. They invested in their own bikes so they could take advantage of the borough’s cycling infrastructure and didn’t need to worry about parking for drop-offs and pickups. And that was before they mostly became electric.

But if cargobikes sound brilliant, why don’t we see even more of them? Well hopefully that’s about to change. There have been huge advances in battery and motor technology recently, and a whole new range of e-cargobikes coming onto the market. And with more customers wanting to choose greener options for delivery, businesses are being encouraged far more to adopt low carbon options.

The slow change can be seen in real life too. If you stand by a busy junction in zone one you’ll see an array of different bikes carrying goods — hot food and groceries delivered by food delivery riders, PedalMe cargobikes carrying everything from flowers to

In The City

“The City of London has ambitious plans to shift freight out of large vehicles onto cargobikes to help improve road safety and air quality. Its 2019 Transport Strategy commits to “enable more deliveries within the Square Mile to be made by cargo cycles, on foot and by small electric vehicles”, as part of its proposal to “reduce the number of motorised freight vehicles in the Square Mile by 15% by 2030 and by 30% by 2044”.

“The City was one of the first local authorities in London to approve a last-mile logistics hub using e-cargobikes in 2020. The Amazon hub is now located just outside the City in Hackney, but it is no doubt helping to reduce vehicle journeys in the Square Mile. The original ambition for this hub was to replace 85 vehicle journeys a day, or 23,000 per year.

“Another tactic for reducing lorries and vans is consolidation centres: a number of different suppliers deliver goods to one centre, rather than each delivering to individual addresses. Fewer vehicles are then needed for the last mile of delivery. This is also written into the City Transport Strategy, for instance mandating the use of consolidation centres in planning consents, including for 22 Bishopgate.

“In March LCC staff attended the National Cargobike Summit, hosted by the City of London at Guildhall, to coincide with the launch of TfL’s Cargobike Action Plan.”

ClareRogersisLCC’scampaignerforthe CityofLondon

“The future of freight is low carbon, maybe even zero emissions. That means the role of the bicycle is intrinsic to the future of freight movements across our towns, cities and rural areas too. So, the Bicycle Association is backing the cargobike strategy announced by TfL. It is wholly supportive of the moves by the City of London to make it harder for vans to be used across the Square Mile.

“We are really pleased to see organisations like Lipton Rogers embrace the concept of consolidation hubs, not just in 22 Bishopsgate but in future developments like Blackfriars, and it is brilliant to see developers like British Land seeking to redevelop car parks into consolidation hubs. Bikes, particularly cargobikes are key to this transition. It’s our job to share best practice and join the dots between manufacturers, suppliers, shops and maintenance of bikes and cargobike operators. We also need to educate building managers, commercial real estate agents and occupiers that cargobikes have a role to play in connecting spaces.

“Right now, our focus is to professionalise the cargobike logistics sector, enabling operators, riders, other road users, the public, employers and respective stakeholders to trust and support the use of cargobikes as a safe, compliant and sustainable tool for use in logistics and transport. If we can do that, then doors to receptions and loading bays will open and cargobikes will be key to the movement of freight services.”

AndrewBrown,BicycleAssociation

empty beer kegs, and even recycling being collected on the streets of Southwark.

The City of London is one of the local authorities at the forefront of encouraging business cargobike use and it is easy to see how they could further reduce traffic in the Square Mile.

What about TfL?

The Mayor and Transport for London are getting in on the act too, recently launching London’s first ‘Cargo Bike Action Plan’. They want to promote and enable the growth of cargobikes used for ‘lastmile’ freight and servicing trips. TfL estimates that up to 17% of van kilometres in central London could be replaced by cargobikes by 2030.

Will Norman, Walking and Cycling Commissioner, said: “Cargobikes are no longer a niche concept, and they can be real gamechangers when it comes to delivering freight and servicing trips. Not only do they provide environmental benefits by not contributing to air pollution, they also make journeys more efficient, and present a much lower risk of danger to people walking and cycling than vans and HGVs.”

It’s great seeing best practice among business being encouraged and lots of new case studies from councils, larger organisations, building or estate managers, and Business Improvement Districts. Obviously one key thing to make sure is that cargobikes can actually deliver to premises and that low carbon transport is prioritised in the procurement process.

But there does need to be the infrastructure in place to allow for real growth. Cargobikes need wider lanes as they are wider than standard cycles; they also need bigger turning circles and to fit through spaces between bollards and security barriers. So we need more lanes built with this mode shift in mind, and more roadspace allocated to cycling overall to allow everyday riders and cargobikes to move around London together.

We need to ensure there is protection and space for all cyclists, so that slower, less confident cyclists, or those using nonstandard cycles, are not put off by faster, larger cargobikes.

If the cycling infrastructure is not suitable for cargobikes then traffic speeds and volumes on roads need to be reduced, so riders can operate safely. If they need to use pavements for deliveries, then clearly this should not be at the expense of pedestrians either.

Access issues

Another challenge is access to buildings and large estates. Some business estate owners do not allow any cargobike access and others will not let cargobikes use the loading bays. This is something we’re campaigning on with the Bicycle Association and others. Once that is solved then the future should look rosier for London’s freight revolution.

Large companies are already getting on board. Amazon is investing in e-cargobike trials across the country (there’s been some in the City), as well as a new Amazon cargobike hub opening in Wembley — which shows that it’s not just central London where the commercial argument stacks up. And it is not all about huge corporations — all across London small traders and local businesses are wanting to use cargobikes more. We have a project with the London Borough of Lewisham, loaning out cargobikes for businesses to try. We have helped a coffee roastery, a food charity and a brewery, among others, as part of this trial. Many other councils are running similar programmes. Storage is one issue

THE

“Last year, we were delighted to launch our first UK micromobility hub in central London. The combination of e-cargobikes and walkers directly replaced thousands of traditional van trips on London’s roads, alleviating city centre traffic congestion and improving air quality. We expanded this last November with the launch of three further micromobility delivery hubs in that keeps cropping up, or we hear that cargobikes are only needed occasionally by some businesses, so a few boroughs are exploring a local cargobike share scheme.

Bike brand Beryl has been wise to this issue and has started to offer e-cargobike hires. CEO and co-founder, Phil Ellis, said: “What we have learned from running the hire schemes in London is that they can be incredibly useful to many people, from businesses and tradesmen to families and individuals. They’re also cost effective, removing the expenses associated with private vehicle ownership such as fuel, storage, tax, MOT and maintenance.”

This is a great start for cargobike freight in London, but we do need more if we’re to meet our net zero targets. If you have a local cargobike project then let us know, we’d love to showcase the work of those helping to reduce motor traffic.

Manchester and London. E-cargobikes and walkers from these hubs are expected to make more than two million deliveries a year to communities across the UK. We look forward to rolling out further micromobility hubs over the coming months.

“Amazon is moving towards more sustainable deliveries and it recently announced a £300 million investment in decarbonising the company’s UK transportation network. New delivery hubs based in London’s Wembley and Southwark will also more than triple the e-cargobike fleet making deliveries to Amazon’s customers across the capital.”

Nicola Fyfe, Director, Head of Amazon Logistics UK