Outspoken Delivery already runs cargo bike operations in Cambridge, <\/strong>Glasgow<\/strong> and Norwich.\u00a0 Photograph: Paul Rogers\/Commissioned for The Guardian<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Waltham Forest\u2019s new zero-emissions delivery service aims to replace polluting trucks for local deliveries of food, online purchases and<\/strong> more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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E<\/span>ach<\/span><\/strong> morning Oscar Godoy unlocks a door in a railway arch in north\u00a0London<\/a>, organizes the day\u2019s deliveries, and assigns jobs to his cargo bike riders. They manoeuvre the hefty bikes from the narrow lane out on to the road, past assorted vehicles from the MOT garage, the car wash and vehicle repair outfits at either end.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the afternoons Godoy does the deliveries himself. Two weeks after the scheme\u2019s launch he heads out, on an electric trike with a large white metal box across its rear axle, filled with the day\u2019s first consignment from a local organic vegetable box scheme.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Imagine your\u00a0ad<\/span>\u00a0placed here<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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This is Waltham Forest\u2019s new council-backed zero-emissions delivery service (ZED). Launched on 28 September, it follows\u00a0a successful two-week Christmas trial<\/a>\u00a0last year, run by the council. Using local cycle instructors and others the scheme delivered on average 43 parcels a day from businesses to residents. Now, Cambridge-based delivery company Outspoken Delivery has two years to turn a profit with it. Until then, a \u00a3400,000 grant from the mayor of London\u2019s Air Quality Fund is helping it get off the ground.<\/span><\/p>\n

Outspoken\u2019s ZED service already delivers library books to the borough\u2019s elderly and vulnerable residents, a part of the job Oscar loves, and 40-50 deliveries of coffee per week from a local roaster, Perky Blenders.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rob King runs Outspoken and is bullish about the scheme\u2019s chances. \u201cThe plan is to win customers,\u201d he says, from both local and national businesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what we have seen so far, and the interest we have had in the last couple of weeks, we are confident. We have a meeting with TNT, so rather than a 7.5-tonne truck going around the borough they will drop off at our depot, for us to deliver.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThose trucks aren\u2019t really designed for going around small streets, and we hope to do a lot more of that last mile delivery stuff, goods coming in from outside the borough.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

King notes that local policies, such as blocking rat runs to through traffic as part of the local \u201cMini-Holland\u201d scheme, and wider policies, make delivery by bike more attractive.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith London\u2019s healthy streets agenda and low emission zone fees, companies like TNT look to the future and think \u2018it\u2019s only going to get harder so let\u2019s look at that process now\u2019.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Outspoken already runs operations in Cambridge, <\/span>Glasgow and Norwich, and King hopes to take on more last-mile deliveries nationwide. There are cargo bike delivery schemes in cities around the world, including\u00a0Gothenburg<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0San Sebastian<\/a>. Although\u00a0Royal Mail deliveries have historically been done by bike, and\u00a0cargo bike deliveries<\/a>\u00a0aren\u2019t particularly new to the UK, they are unusual in outer London and this is believed to be the first such scheme to be supported by a local council.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elsewhere in London, Pedivan is about to launch a delivery scheme spanning zones 1-3 targeting online deliveries and high street shops, among other things. In Germany, meanwhile, Deutsche Post uses slightly eccentric-looking recumbent quadricycles for some of its deliveries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Outspoken\u2019s use of the large, three-wheeled Iceni Cycles cargo trike is also unusual \u2013 it\u2019s like a small van, with electric assist. The ZED scheme has four assorted bikes in total (three two-wheelers and the trike), two with electric assist, to deliver across a borough that is bigger than Cambridge and surprisingly hilly in places. In time the company hopes to get more electric-assist bikes, and more staff, but in the meantime, today\u2019s test run will see it deliver more than 400 packs of fresh vegetables to 315 homes and local businesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

The challenge now is to scale up rapidly an operation that took three and a half years to build in Cambridge. It won\u2019t be easy to compete with traditional vans, though. The bikes cost \u00a39,000 each and, unlike motor vehicles, require secure indoor storage against theft.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the council is helping catalyze that growth. Once it\u2019s big enough, King says, it will become self-sustaining.<\/span><\/p>\n

Waltham Forest <\/span>councillor Clyde Loakes says he wants the scheme to become a viable alternative to traditional vans as part of a wider council policy to\u00a0reduce motor vehicle traffic in the borough<\/a>\u00a0while increasing walking and cycling.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy vision for the scheme is that it becomes a cornerstone of low emissions deliveries within Walthamstow; that we pick up that last mile delivery, so we haven\u2019t got loads of white vans with one parcel in them driving around Waltham Forest and leaving London empty.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese bikes are able to get around our network of roads more efficiently than traditional methods of transport, and because it\u2019s locally based perhaps it can respond better to the needs of our residents.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He envisions people calling a ZED bike from large retail outlets to take their shopping home, rather than driving, and <\/span>that neighbouring boroughs will get involved.<\/span><\/p>\n