The Mayor should provide further funding to local authorities in
London for cargo bike sharing schemes and cargo bike training, to
help businesses pedal their way to net zero.
A report by the London Assembly Economy
Committee explores how businesses in the capital can be
incentivised to make a shift away from diesel vans and towards
using cargo bikes for their deliveries and 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.
The Committee found that cargo bikes allow businesses to travel
within the ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) for a relatively low
upfront cost, compared to other low emission vehicles such as
electric vans. It heard that the cheapest electric van costs
around £24,000.
Transport for London (TfL) runs a scrappage scheme to enable
Londoners and smaller businesses to replace vehicles that do not
meet the ULEZ emissions standard with cleaner vehicles, including
cargo bikes.
The Committee is urging TfL to consider increasing the scheme to
incentivise more businesses to switch to cargo bikes once the
current funding runs out, as well as raising awareness among
different types of businesses to incentivise them to purchase a
cargo bike using the scheme.
Congestion costs money for businesses as workers spend time
queuing in traffic and it is difficult to make deliveries on
time.
Freight vehicles, both large goods vehicles (LGVs) and heavy
goods vehicle (HGVs), make up 17 per cent of total vehicle miles
in London, but contribute proportionally more to emissions and
poor air quality.
This amounts to a quarter of the total carbon emissions from
transport, and around a third of the total nitrogen oxides and
particulate matter from road transport.
Many businesses will continue to rely on both LGVs and HGVs for
financial and logistical reasons. However, for certain types of
delivery, alternatives such as cargo bikes are increasingly
becoming a viable option for businesses.
The Committee has today published a report with
13 recommendations to the Mayor and TfL,
including:
- The Mayor should explore providing further funding to local
authorities in London to support cargo bike sharing schemes and
to provide training to local businesses, to help them integrate
cargo bikes into their operations in a cost-effective way.
- TfL should share with the Committee any analysis it has done
on ensuring that there is uptake for purchasing cargo bikes as
part of the ULEZ scrappage scheme from a wide variety of
businesses. It should also consider increasing the funding for
this to incentivise more businesses to switch to cargo bikes when
the current funding runs out.
- TfL should inform the Committee of how it is raising
awareness among different types of businesses to incentivise them
to purchase a cargo bike using the scheme.
- The Mayor should introduce a quality mark which is awarded to
London’s businesses that use cargo bikes, in order to incentivise
more businesses to take up cargo bikes.
- The Mayor should lobby the government to introduce a further
round of funding for local authorities to procure e-cargo bikes,
to support the growth of e-cargo bikes in London.
AM, Chair of the
Economy Committee, said:
“Freight is critical to London’s economy, with 90 per cent of
all goods handled in our city transported by
road.
“But road freight both contributes to and is affected by
congestion in the capital – significantly impacting London’s
businesses.
“We know that many companies want to shift to cleaner,
greener transport solutions, and cargo bikes are an exciting and
revolutionary way for them to do this.
“Our investigation found there are many benefits of using
cargo bikes for businesses, because of their versatility,
reliability, and affordability, but there are some challenges
that need to be addressed.
“That is why we are urging the Mayor and TfL to adopt our
recommendations to help businesses overcome these challenges and
win the race to net zero.”
