The Mayor of London and Transport for London (TfL) have unveiled plans to transform how deliveries are made in the capital. The measures include making land available for ‘micro-distribution centres’ from which deliveries would be made by cargo bike.
TfL says that the movements of goods vehicles in the capital have increased by around 20 per cent since 2010, contributing to poor air quality, congestion and road danger.
Lorries and vans now account for around a fifth of London’s road traffic.
The rise is in large part being driven by online sales, which have doubled since 2012. Between 200,000 and 400,000 personal deliveries are made to offices in central London every day.
A number of measures have now been announced to encourage more sustainable delivery options.
Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, said: “Freight is essential for London’s economy but for our future health and prosperity we need to be smarter about how we manage the millions of van and lorry journeys each week.
“By creating a pan-London network of micro-distribution centres and rolling out innovative click and collect points at more Tube stations, we will enable more commuters to collect packages near their home – helping reduce congestion across our city.
“Together with the introduction of our world-leading Direct Vision Standard and supporting businesses to switch to electric vans and cargo bikes, we will make freight more efficient while also reducing road danger and cleaning up London’s toxic air.”
Last month TfL trialled cargo bike deliveries to a Crossrail site at Whitechapel using cycle lanes instead of a van.
According to London cycling commissioner, Will Norman, the bikes were twice as quick as vans.
Cargo bikes vs vans delivering to a construction site. Fantastic (but unsurprising) to see the bikes were almost twice as fast as the vans – with no pollution. Great stuff @TfL @MBCyclingTM and team https://t.co/ORRPwa7v4M
— Will Norman (@willnorman) February 26, 2019
While many construction loads would of course be too large for a cargo bike, Pedal Me, who took part in the trial, pointed out that many different sized loads are sent to site.
We were told that 70% of rapid reaction orders for one plant-to-site hiring company were currently being delivered by van, but could be carried on one of our bikes (by said company).
— Pedal Me (@pedalmeapp) February 27, 2019
The firm was also keen to emphasise that its bikes and trailers can transport up to 300kg at a time.
A cargo bike taxi and delivery service, Pedal Me recently smashed its Crowdcube fundraising target of £150,000 just hours into the campaign.
9 thoughts on “Mayor and TfL announce plans to encourage more last mile deliveries by cargo bike”
Does anybody know the name
Does anybody know the name and maker of the long john in the photograph? I like the look of the long cargo cage. I think I’ve glimpsed one like it on Bishopsgate recently.
Hmm – nice. “Feel-good”.
Hmm – nice. “Feel-good”. Ticks all the boxes.
Except for one small detail … I got the idea that the cycle provision in much of London already heavily congested?
Cargo bikes also benefit from
Cargo bikes also benefit from bike infrastructure.
It’s nice to ask everyone to use bikes for the environment, it would be even nicer if cities would do more than just encourage it.
As someone once said: “Don’t ask what cyclists can do for you, ask yourself what you can do for cyclists!” (I might remember this wrong)
Seems like a good idea, but
Seems like a good idea, but what about security? A few thugs could easily jump one of these delivery cyclists, and steal their cargo.
A440 wrote:
Same could be said of every other delivery method. Vans regularly get stolen.
TNT uses bikes a lot in
TNT uses bikes a lot in London, UPS has been trialling a big trike/small van in Portland. All that’s needed is the will, encouraged by some pre-emptive by-laws.
Fascinating article about E
Fascinating interview with E-cargobikes.com about working with Sainsbury’s deliveries in business mag Furnace.
…
By mid-summer, there will be 150 cargonauts operating out of Notting Hill. “From this hub we can deliver 58,000 tonnes of groceries per annum
https://furnacemag.com/ecargobikes-last-mile-deliveries/
Meanwhile Taras Grescoe tweeted that the CEO of DHL Express said
https://twitter.com/grescoe/status/1100855202972868609
Thanks for that Simon E.
Thanks for that Simon E.
MET will be all over that
MET will be all over that chap in the photo like a bad suit, cycling on a ‘pavement’ and all that shizzle! Maybe Khan can sort out the shite of the local plod and their discriminatory/unlawful actions and stop up a few roads to motor traffic full stop if he had any real interest in last mile delivery by bike and increasing cycling as a whole.