Dr Ersilia Verlinghieri, Senior Research Fellow from Westminster’s Active Travel Academy, has been quoted in an article by WIRED about her new research which shows that using cargo bikes to deliver packages is not only greener than using a van, but often quicker.
The article discusses the environmental, and potentially cost and time saving benefits of using cargo bikes for deliveries compared to vans, and how they are already being used in major European cities such as London and Paris.
The article highlights Westminster research by Dr Verlinghieri, Professor Rachel Aldred, Irena Itova, and Nicolas Collignon which has shown that services by cargo bike company Pedal Me were 1.61 times faster than an equivalent van service. Due to the flexibility of these vehicles, deliverers could take shortcuts, bypass traffic jams, and use bus lanes and bicycle paths.
Speaking about the benefits of cargo bikes, Dr Verlinghieri said: “Cargo bikes have a cascade of positive effects, including the reduction of air and noise pollution and the improvement of public space.”
The research has also found that with the 100,000 cargo bikes introduced in Europe between 2018-2020, the same amount of CO2 needed to fly about 24,000 people from London to New York and back has been saved each month. If widely adopted, emissions savings could be even bigger, as cargo bikes could decrease the demand for van manufacturing.
Talking about the future of cargo bike deliveries, Velighieri added: “If we were in an ideal world and accounting for costs not just in terms of running a business but the environmental and social costs like CO2 emissions and road safety, cargo bikes would be a lot more viable.”
Read the full article on WIRED’s website.
