Want greener, cleaner and faster deliveries? Try a cargo bike.
As so many of us are doing everything we can to reduce our carbon impact (from consuming less plastic to rethinking the way we get around) there’s one thing that’s lagging behind - freight.
When you’re getting something delivered, or needing to haul a bunch of stuff from one part of a city to another, it’s easy to just assume using a car or van is the way to go. But believe it or not, there’s an alternative.
How can our deliveries be better for the environment? Well an answer could be quite simple, the humble cargo bike.
Cargo bikes are just that, bikes that can carry cargo. Human-powered, they are designed to transport loads and are particularly useful in city settings. They come in a whole range of different forms, suitable for all types of cargo. These nifty little contraptions could help our cities become more breathable, safer and have more space.
With goods vehicles not only emitting carbon (contributing to the climate crisis), but also taking up valuable space in our streets, and worsening air quality, we need to take this alternative seriously.
So we asked how do cargo bikes really measure up against vans? And the results might surprise you.
The Promise of Low-Carbon Freight: our report
Focussing on London and produced in collaboration with the Active Travel Academy and Pedal Me, the report uses GPS data to determine the potential of cargo bikes being used for urban deliveries. Here’s what it found:
The service performed by Pedal Me freight vehicles is, on average, 1.61 times faster (yes, faster!) than one performed by van.
In the 98 days of work sampled, the Pedal Me service saved 3896kg of CO2 and over 5.5kg of NOx.
Using cargo bikes for 10% of the journeys currently undertaken by vans in London would mean a saving of as much as 133,300 tonnes of CO2 and 190.4 thousand Kg of NOx per year.
It would also reduce urban congestion and free a total of 384,000 sqm of public space usually occupied by parked vans along with 16,980 hours of vehicle traffic per day.
The world of sustainable freight is very much just beginning. But cargo bikes courier services, such as Pedal Me, have provided excellent foundations that could help decarbonise urban freight. By embracing the potential of cargo bikes and making our cities’ roads more cycle-friendly to bikes, they could be a significant contributor to how we decarbonise urban freight.
What can you do
Read our report: The Promise of Low-Carbon Freight - and talk about it with your friends and family.
Call on Royal Mail, Parcelforce and Hermes to take up Pedal Me’s challenge of a race between their cargo bike and a standard delivery van. We have an example tweet you can use here - “Love to see that @_wearepossible and @PedalMe are challenging @RoyalMail, @parcelforce and @Hermesparcels to a race across London. Cargo bikes are the way forward for urban deliveries, now all we need is for the delivery companies to accept the challenge!”
Always check whether there’s an option for zero-emissions delivery and, if there is one, take it.
Emma Kemp
Car Free Megacities Campaign Manager | Possible
