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Imagine your\u00a0ad<\/span>\u00a0placed here<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Cartwright, who recently completed a Ph.D<\/span>. in archaeology at Cambridge University, has spent the past eight months piloting the unusual contraption through the city for\u00a0Outspoken Delivery<\/a>, one of a fast-growing breed of logistics companies eschewing the motor vehicle in favour of pedal power.<\/span><\/p>\n Outspoken\u2019s fleet comprises around a dozen cargo bikes and trikes of various sizes, going up to behemoths able to carry loads of more than 200kg, some with a small electric motor helping the rider set off from lights or negotiate Cambridge\u2019s very occasional slight hills.<\/span><\/p>\n Rob King, the founder, said it was initially a struggle to persuade customers to sign up: \u201cWe\u2019d go into companies and say, \u2018We could do these deliveries.\u2019 They\u2019d say, \u2018Don\u2019t be ridiculous, you\u2019re on bikes.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Outspoken, whose riders wear uniforms and take the\u00a0Bikeability training scheme<\/a>, now has a big client list, including sub-contracted work from major freight companies, as well as new outlets in Glasgow and Norwich.<\/span><\/p>\n The obvious point with cargo bikes is that they are not meant as a complete replacement for the truck or van. Cargo bikes would struggle to take washing machines, let alone a sofa, and can\u2019t shuttle big loads between nationwide depots. Where they come into their own is the so-called last mile deliveries, particularly the vast number of smaller packages from online purchases.<\/span><\/p>\n They are especially effective in compact, congested towns and cities, where a cargo bike rider, unworried by parking tickets and able to use bike-only routes, can often deliver more packages in a day than their van-driving equivalent, even with the smaller payload requiring occasional returns to the depot.<\/span><\/p>\n This is all the more so in places such as Cambridge, where\u00a0parts of the centre are closed to cars and vans<\/a>. And of course, cargo bikes are nearly emission-free and much safer for a city\u2019s inhabitants.<\/span><\/p>\n There are cargo bike delivery firms in about a dozen places around the UK, and <\/span>much more across continental Europe, carrying everything from Amazon packages to office stationery to takeaway food.<\/span><\/p>\n There is even an EU-funded project,\u00a0Cycle Logistics<\/a>, seeking to boost the trade. Susanne Wrighton from\u00a0Forschungsgesellschaft Mobilit\u00e4t<\/a>, a Vienna-based mobility thinktank involved in Cycle Logistics, says her city has a successful startup\u00a0delivering healthy meals with a fleet of branded cargo bikes<\/a>. A\u00a0takeaway food enterprise in Prague<\/a>\u00a0promises its bikes can deliver the dish of choice within seven minutes of order.<\/span><\/p>\n There is more to the fast growth of the industry than convenience, says Wrighton: \u201cIt\u2019s also a matter of more and more cities recognizing that this can really improve the quality of life for people who live in the city.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Aside from a generally bike-unfriendly road culture, the UK industry was also impeded by regulations meaning heavier cargo bikes fitted with electric assistance were classified as motor vehicles.<\/span><\/p>\n This\u00a0restriction was lifted in April<\/a>, although the electric motors remain small \u2013 a maximum of 250w power \u2013 and limited to 15mph. Outspoken is now awaiting delivery of a vast, electric-assisted cargo trike with a three cubic-metre cargo box, almost as large as a small van.<\/span><\/p>\n An electric boost is even more of a boon in hilly towns and cities. Staff at\u00a0ReCharge<\/a>, a courier company launched in Brighton by another former <\/span>Ph.D. student, Sam Keam, in 2013, use electrically-assisted bikes to deliver goods ranging from sub-contracted DHL packages to bottles from a wine merchant.<\/span><\/p>\n While local companies enjoy the green cachet of using cargo bikes, said Keam, for bigger clients it is convenience that counts: \u201cWe\u2019re seeing growth in parts of the British economy, retail is moving online and the number of deliveries being made is going through the roof. But there\u2019s no road space for that to happen. The only way you can grow urban economies is by changing the way you manage logistics in a city.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Deliveries by bike are, of course, a longstanding urban phenomenon, with cycle couriers a familiar sight in many big cities for decades. But as fax and then email have hacked away at this trade other businesses are stepping in.<\/span><\/p>\n At the start of this year Richa Bhalla, a 27-year-old former tech industry worker, launched\u00a0Petal and Cycle<\/a>, a florist that promises to deliver bouquets to addresses in central London addresses by bike within 90 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n Customers enjoy both the immediacy and the method, Bhalla said: \u201cIt\u2019s nice to have this human contact. There\u2019s a kind of symbolism to it, kind of like this knight in shining armour, pedaling across the city to bring you flowers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Follow us on TWITTER for more Logistics News<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Follow us on FACEBOOK for more Logistics News<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n One company, however, remains missing: Royal Mail. The UK\u2019s biggest parcel deliverer of all has\u00a0phased out almost all its familiar delivery bikes<\/a>, replacing them with vans and trollies. The company says it has tried cargo bikes but found none \u201ccapable of meeting our needs\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n
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