International Cargo Bike Festival: Waltham Forest Council

Monday, March 6, 2017

Waltham Forest Council - Christmas Courier

Register of Initiatives in Pedal Powered Logistics - RIPPL #7

The RIPPL blog continues at the website RIPPL.BIKE

Christmas Courier was a pilot scheme run by Waltham Forest Council employing Cycle Confident, a UK-based bicycle services and training company to undertake retail deliveries in the busy period running up to Christmas. The scheme ran between 12 and 23 December 2016 from a mobile hub on Walthamstow High Street in North-East London.

The mobile hub

The aims of the scheme, which made use of a fleet of cargo bikes as well as an electric van, were to:

Reduce private vehicle usage and Increase active travel amongst residents
Reduce traffic congestion on roads
Reduce CO2 emissions, NOx and particulates
Increase community involvement in supporting businesses and emission reduction work
Promote sustainable transport.

The target audience was not just shoppers on Walthamstow High Street, whom Christmas Courier staff would offer to deliver their shopping to their homes, but also local businesses; 20 of which engaged with the scheme. Deliveries from the businesses and onwards to their customers' homes were carried out by Christmas Courier.

The catchment area was clearly defined and spanned neighbouring postcodes

The pilot scheme received a lot of positive feedback and was deemed a success. Customer feedback suggests that the scheme did bring about behavioural changes among high street shoppers, enabling them to buy more items than normal and influencing them to shop locally rather than in central London or online.

Part of the Christmas Courier fleet.

Overall, 1000 packages were delivered in 515 journeys, an average of 43 deliveries per day. A distance of 2636km was cycled, saving 400kg of CO2 equivalent emissions. The Council have secured funding from the Mayor of London's Air Quality Fund to continue the scheme in 2017, albeit with a less festive theme.