Cargo bikes: Cutting pollution in London Bridge
A London Bridge business group has helped 40 local businesses transition to emission free cargo bike deliveries since the ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) was introduced.
Cargo bike deliveries in the London Bridge area have risen to 50 a day since the ULEZ kicked off in April this year. Corporates including IKEA, Sainsbury’s, and TNT are now using the delivery vehicles, as well as local businesses including high street butchers and dog walkers.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital Trust and Great Ormand Street Hospital are also using cargo bikes for the transportation of pathology samples.
The growth has been supported by the Bikes for Business scheme from Team London Bridge, the area’s Business Improvement District (BID), which is also backed by Transport for London (TfL).
Cargo bikes are now set to reduce air pollution, carbon emissions, and congestion in the area in the run-up to Christmas, when personal shopping deliveries to the workplace soar by nearly two-thirds, according to data from TfL.
A survey for TfL also found that more than three-quarters of UK customers were concerned by the environmental impact of their online purchases, with four in five saying they would use a carbon-friendly delivery option if it was easily available.
Even Santa is using a cargo bike to deliver over 2,000 presents donated by local businesses to local charities that work with children in Southwark.
Chief executive of Team London Bridge, Nadia Broccardo, said that the use of cargo bikes created a real opportunity for businesses.
“As the festive season approaches, an increasing number of people get their Christmas shopping delivered to their place of work as it is often more convenient,” she said. “They are also rightly demanding greater customer choice in the availability of carbon -friendly delivery options. This creates a real opportunity for businesses to improve customer satisfaction as well as reduce the environmental impact of delivery vans clogging up the roads and polluting our streets.”
