City Hall wants businesses to swap vans for ‘revolutionary’ cargo bikes

By Noah Vickers, Local Democracy Reporter

Sadiq Khan has been urged to take steps to help businesses swap their vans for cargo bikes, as City Hall politicians hailed the vehicles’ “revolutionary” possibilities.

In a new report, the London Assembly’s economy committee said the Mayor should provide more money for borough councils to arrange cargo bike sharing and training schemes.

The committee’s investigation explored how businesses in the capital can be incentivised to make a shift away from diesel vans and towards using cargo bikes for their deliveries or other jobs.

Cargo bikes can range from two or three-wheeled bikes with trailers or storage boxes on the front or back, to four-wheeled covered vehicles, and can cost up to £12,500 – while the cheapest electric vans cost around £24,000.

The committee found that cargo bikes allow businesses to travel within the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) for a low upfront cost, as well as reducing congestion and pollution.

Their report calls on Transport for London (TfL) to share any analysis it has done on uptake for purchasing cargo bikes as part of the ULEZ scrappage scheme – and that it should also consider increasing the funding for cargo bikes when the current scrappage funding runs out.

Committee chair Hina Bokhari said: “We’ve talked to plumbers, we’ve talked to electricians, who are making that transition, and they’ve said that it [using a cargo bike] saves them time, because they can get to their appointments on time and fit in more appointments.

“It’s great for their business, it’s great for their mental health as well… it’s a win-win for so many businesses.”

Oliver Lord, who leads the UK branch of the Europe-wide Clean Cities Campaign, said: “We see this as a really positive solution for businesses. It’s obviously not going to be a solution for every business, [but] if you look at the number of vans that are being driven in London, it’s gone up about 30 per cent in the past decade – it’s something we can’t sustain, so this is a space-saver.”

TfL’s recently-published action plan on cargo bikes suggests that the vehicles could replace up to 17 per cent of van-driven kilometres in central London by the end of the decade.

Responding to the committee’s report, Will Norman, the Mayor’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, said: “Cargo bikes can be real game changers when it comes to delivering freight and servicing trips.

“Not only do they provide environmental benefits by not contributing to air pollution, they also make journeys more efficient, and present a much lower risk of danger to people walking and cycling than vans and HGVs.”

Pictured top: Oliver Lord (Picture: Noah Vickers)