Twente Care Workers Switch to E-Bikes

Register of Initiatives in Pedal Powered Logistics - RIPPL #14

The RIPPL blog continues at the website RIPPL.BIKE

Twente Mobiel's infographic showing results from the pilot.

Two organisations that organise home care visits in the region of Twente, in the east of the Netherlands, have been trialling e-bikes for employee mobility.

55 home care workers from Livio and Zorggroep Manna took part in the eight month pilot project, in which trips by car to visit patients were instead carried out on e-bikes. The trips were logged using a smartphone app. The aim was to find out if it was practical and achievable to carry out care visits on bikes. 

The study concluded that care workers saved time due to not having to sit in traffic or find a car parking space, meaning that they were late to appointments less frequently. The organisations also saved money on mileage, parking fees and administration associated with the use of cars.

Between November 2015 and June 2016, 69% of the participants used the e-bike for more than three-quarters of their trips. Cars were still used when distances were too great, or to attend appointments at night. The care workers gave the e-bikes an overwhelmingly positive review: 94% wanted to continue using them after the pilot had ended.

Twente Mobiel, a mobility organisation which is part of the province of Overijssel, facilitated the pilot project and have subsequently been holding webinars to help more organisations make the switch to e-bikes.

Innovations: care

Organisation: Livio, Zorggroep Manna and Twente Mobiel

Sector: Private / Commercial

Cities: Enschede and the region of Twente

Country: The Netherlands

Basis: Pilot

Website: www.livio.nl, www.zorggroep-manna.nl, www.twentemobiel.nl

Sources:

Twente Mobiel: “Switch to the e-bike” (Dutch)
RTV Oost: “Twente home care workers now on the e-bike” (Dutch)
Verkeersnet.nl: “Twente home care workers switch to e-bike” (Dutch)
TV Enschede: “Twente entrepreneurs encourage employees to get on the bicycle” (Dutch)

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DeliverEbike

The Deliver Ebike is taking over Europe. Big chains like Domino’s pizza, Burger King and Subway are already using the innovative solution for delivering meals in urban areas. 

The Deliver Ebike is a fast electric E-bike with a maximum speed of 25km per hour. It was developed in the Ebike Development Centre in Cuijk, the Netherlands. Engineers used top quality components of well-known brands, ensuring that the bike is solid, safe and durable.

The E-bike is especially designed for delivery and is as sturdy and strong as possible. The battery is positioned within the frame, minimizing the chance of accidental damage. Most cables are safely hidden inside the bike frame and the handle bars are fitted with solid grips. The bike is equipped with an automatic 2-gear hub, allowing for automatic gear changes. This feature makes it very efficient and reliable. 

The Deliver Ebike can be customized with a company name, a company logo  and a wide range of different delivery boxes and bags. 

Next to the normal Deliver Ebike, there is also a new model: The Deliver E-Trike. This innovative three wheeled E-Bike uses the latest technology and is perfect for last mile delivery, such as delivering big packages in crowded downtown areas were large trucks are being banned.

Are you interested in Deliver Ebikes? Check out the website: www.ebike4delivery.com.

Outspoken! Delivery - Consolidation and Containerisation

Register of Initiatives in Pedal Powered Logistics - RIPPL #13

The RIPPL blog continues at the website RIPPL.BIKE

Photo credit: Outspoken!

This is the second in a series of RIPPL posts about Outspoken! Delivery, a cycle logistics company based in Cambridge which uses cargo bikes and trikes to deliver a number of different services in innovative ways. The first, about how the company is beginning to use heavy duty components on their fleet of e-trikes, is available here. Outspoken is currently the biggest independent cargo bike courier company in the UK.

Based on the edge of the Cambridge, Outspoken is positioned conveniently both for the city and the A14 (a major trunk road leading from the sea ports in Felixstowe and Harwich to the East, and the A1 and Birmingham to the West). This position allows them to act as a consolidation hub for city centre last mile deliveries. Packages are then divided efficiently amongst Outspoken riders on localised runs across the city. These trips into the centre of Cambridge would almost certainly otherwise have been carried out by motorised goods vehicles.

The location of the Outspoken! Consolidation Centre

Since 1995 Cambridge city centre has been closed to vehicles between 10am and 4pm on weekdays, so cycle logistics is one of the only options available for daytime deliveries. Gary Armstrong of Outspoken estimates that 80% of their clients do not think about green credentials when selecting the company. Practical considerations like access to the city centre as well as price and level of service are much more important considerations to them.

This demonstrates a truism in private sector cycle logistics; initiatives don't exist in a bubble and business models must be optimised so that customers and users are properly incentivised to use the services on offer. In other words, whilst the green 'zero emissions' message is still an important part of Outspoken's marketing strategy, the company must also prove itself as the most viable and efficient provider of logistics to a place-sensitive, time-sensitive and cost-sensitive client base.

Restricted access to Cambridge city centre... no problem. Photo credit: Outspoken!

With this in mind, Outspoken are also drawing up plans to use a shipping container as a mini-hub on the opposite side of the city. The idea is to enable traffic passing Cambridge on the M11 motorway to take advantage of the last mile delivery model. This hub would house bikes and host a workshop to maintain them, as well as acting as a secondary consolidation centre. Due to the modular nature of shipping containers, this is a flexible and expandable model which can be scaled up or down in a relatively short space of time, responding to changes in demand. All of which makes for a lower risk business model and possibly a test-bed for new innovations.

Containerisation is a trend we've covered before in RIPPL posts but it comes in two scales. Firstly there are examples like this, where shipping containers are imaginatively repurposed as modular buildings. Secondly, at a smaller scale, there are containers that can be transferred to and from bikes in the same way shipping containers are transferred to and from ships, trains and trucks. We'll be covering the latter in more depth in future posts.

Innovations: consolidation, containerisation

Organisation: Outspoken! Delivery

Sector: Private / Commercial

Cities: Cambridge, Norwich, Glasgow

Country: UK

Bike Manufacturer(s): 8 Freight, Bullitt, Cycles Maximus, Radkutsche

Basis: Permanent

Website: http://www.outspokendelivery.co.uk/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OutspokenDeliv

Contact(s): Gary Armstrong / gary.armstrong@outspokendelivery.co.uk / +44 (0)1223 719 594

Sources:

Cyclelogistics.eu: "Cities: Cambridge"

Cam Cycle: "Life as an Outspoken cycle courier"

Bikeplus: "Outspoken Delivery"

The Guardian Bike Blog: "Why Cargo bike deliveries are taking over the UK's cities"

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CityServiceBike - Last Mile meets Park & Ride

Register of Initiatives in Pedal Powered Logistics - RIPPL #12

The RIPPL blog continues at the website RIPPL.BIKE

CityServiceBike is a brand new initiative by Elza van Genderen. Inspired by her knowledge that every day maintenance and installation businesses encounter obstacles while working in the city centre, she launched a pilot on 11 May in Utrecht, which will provide a solution for businesses who want their workers to instead travel by bicycle. 

What is the problem, though? The centre of Utrecht is not a friendly place for drivers of vans. One-way traffic often means drivers must take long, circuitous routes around blocks in order to reach a destination which is very close. Then there is the challenge of finding a parking space and the quickly mounting expense of parking for a few hours. Working in this way is frustrating and inefficient in terms of time and money. Not to mention that the very presence of these vehicles in city centres bring many negative impacts in terms of air pollution, road danger and competition for space.

CityServiceBike proposes a solution for this. The initiative facilitates van parking space on the outskirts of the city. Here, maintenance and installation businesses can park their vehicles and transfer their materials to an electric cargo bike that is ready to be used to visit their customers.

Three partners, KPN, Coca-Cola and Douwe Egberts are participating in the three-month trial and for now the service is open only to these three organisations. The trial is being facilitated by the LEVV-LOGIC project as a Living Lab. This means that the hypothesis that by switching to the bicycle, businesses can serve their customers in a faster, more efficient and enjoyable way, will be tested. Assuming that is the outcome, CityServiceBike hope to open the service to other businesses and eventually implement the initiative commercially throughout the Netherlands.

Innovations: Last Mile Park & Ride

Organisation: CityServiceBike

Sector: Private / Commercial

City: Utrecht

Country: The Netherlands

Basis: Pilot

Website: www.cityservicebike.nl

Contact: Elza van Genderen / +31 (30) 272 06 20  / info@cityservicebike.nl 

Sources:
Algemeen Dagblad: "Mechanics now on cargo bikes in the city centre" (Dutch)
De Utrechtse Internet Courant: "E-Cargo bike replaces vans: 'The accessibility in the centre is very bad' " (Dutch)
Coca Cola Netherlands: "Coca-Cola Mechanics with cargo bikes on the path in Utrecht" (Dutch)
Ecotap: "Sustainable cooperation between ecotap and CityServiceBike Utrecht" (Dutch)

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CLARIJS Cargo Bike Covers & Canopies

WHAT                                                                                                          DO THEY DO?

Clarijs is specialized in the manufacturing of handmade high quality cargo bike covers, rain canopies and bike bags since 1948!

They manufacture covers and rain canopies for ;

Bakfiets.nl, Workcycles, Christiania, Dolly, Nihola, Fietsfabriek, Babboe, 't Mannetje and some more to come…

Note; you can choose 18 different colors of the best quality pvc (all made in the EU), re-used truck cover or coated acryl (normally used for boat covers).

All with 3 years guarantee!! 

HISTORY CLARIJS

Sailmaker Clarijs is a traditional family business.

It was founded by the brothers Clarijs when in 1948 they started as a saddlery.

When less work was available in the leather-working branch, the type of work changed.

Gradually the company started to focus more on processing sail canvas and related

products. The company evolved and has passed on to the sons and grandchildren

and has grown into production work of (cycle) bags and bakfiets covers in the

more recent years.

We are proud to tell, Clarijs products are being sold in more then 12 countries now,

including USA and Canada.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

All our products are manufactured in The Netherlands and all the materials they use are

produced in the EU.

90 % of the products they make are made by people who work in a sheltered workshop!

In the last years they sell more and more (cycle) bags made out of reCYCLEd truckcover 
and other used materials.

Txita - Activists of Sustainable Transport

Register of Initiatives in Pedal Powered Logistics - RIPPL #11

The RIPPL blog continues at the website RIPPL.BIKE

TXITA Txirrindak is a cycle logistics company from Donostia - San Sebastian, founded in 2006. Their mission is to improve the sustainability and quality of life in the city by promoting eco‐friendly urban transport, simultaneously establishing a successful model to serve as an example to other cities.

The initial business model was based on provision of a “taxi-bike” (Bicitaxi) service for citizens and tourists in tricycles. Advertising was also installed on these tricycles, an important source of diversified income.

In 2009 Txita branched out into the last mile (or la ultima milla) distribution business and transport service for small and medium parcel delivery; also using tricycles with a 250kg capacity.


Further innovation has come in the form of a new 7 week pilot project that began in March this year (2017) in conjunction with the Municipality. This project offers customers of local shops in certain postcodes the option of home delivery. Customers can pick a delivery time slot and the shop then contacts TXITA, who collect and deliver the item. Around 30 shops are taking part in the pilot, including bakers, florists and pharmacies and during the initial 7 weeks, it is free for customers to use.

Besides all of this, TXITA are involved in a number of different aspects of sustainable urban transport and cycle logistics. They are involved in a number of projects including the EU-funded Cyclelogistics Ahead and also offer training and consultancy services for other organisations wanting to integrate cycle logistics.

A busy organisation; and we haven't even mentioned their music bikes, or how they rode a taxi-bike and cargo bike 786km to the Velo City conference in Nantes in 2015...


Innovations: diversification, home delivery

Organisation: Txita

Sector: Private / Commercial

Cities: Donostia - San Sebastian

Country: Spain

Basis: Pilot (home delivery), Permanent (everything else)

Website: http://www.txita.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/txitadnt

Contact: Harri Zuazo Linacisoro comunicacion@txita.com

Sources:
Txita at the European Cycle Logistics Federation
Cycle Logistics Ahead: "Cyclelogistics partners TXITA and San Sebastian launching home delivery by bike"
Triodos Bank: "Txita Txirrindak" (Spanish)

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