RIPPL #54: A Call to Action for COVID Recovery and Urban Freight – Guest Post by Sam Starr


Sam Starr is a Vancouver-based Sustainable Cities Cycle Logistics Expert & Consultant. https://critical-mobility.com/


by Sam Starr

As cities reel from the lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, eCommerce has accelerated, streets are being reallocated for active transportation, and small businesses are struggling to stay afloat. Citizens are shifting away from public transportation, leading to a rise in personal vehicle use, and ultimately congestion. Bicycle and pedal-assist cycles are needed as an alternative mode of transport, and cargo cycles as a new sustainable vehicle powering urban goods movement. Resilience in the urban goods transport network can be achieved, through the use of Urban Consolidation Centres (UCCs) or mini-hubs in tandem with these cargo cycles, trikes, and light electric vehicles (LEVs). This triple-bottom-line solution requires a solid strategy and the proper use of tactics and collaboration to achieve success. 

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RIPPL #53: Mumbai Ice Cream Trike – Guest Post by Vijay Malhotra

A version of this article was originally posted by Indian cycling blogger Vijay Malhotra on his excellent website Pedal and Tring Tring.


by Vijay Malhotra

Sanjay Sharma arrives at Carter Road, Bandra, to sell ice creams from his cargo trike. The 38 year old is seen at the same spot every night from 9pm to 3am, serving local tourists and people who visit the area for evening walks. Families travelling in cars and motorbikes often stop by to eat ice creams with their children. His bright red tricycle can easily be seen from afar as he mostly prefers to stand under a street lamp.

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RIPPL #52: Dropper – Dropping it like it’s hot

This is the third in a series of RIPPL articles supported by Gemeente Groningen. To celebrate the International Cargo Bike Festival, which took place in the city this June, we’re taking a deep-dive and focussing on how cycle-logistics works in this city of bikes.

Groningen-based startup Dropper recently announced a partnership with PostNL (the Dutch post office) to deliver postal packages by bike in Groningen. This development is just the latest chapter in Dropper’s remarkable rise from dynamic startup to fully-fledged, multi-disciplinary cycle logistics business. The move also goes hand in hand with the city of Groningen’s push to achieve emission-free city logistics by 2025, and PostNL’s own goal to deliver emission-free in 25 Dutch cities – also by 2025. Continue reading “RIPPL #52: Dropper – Dropping it like it’s hot”

RIPPL #51: Stadswerkplaats – Groningen’s brilliantly unassuming cargo-trike hire service

This is the second in a series of RIPPL articles supported by Gemeente Groningen. In the run up to the International Cargo Bike Festival, which takes place in the city this coming June, we’re taking a deep-dive and focussing on how cycle-logistics works in this city of bikes.

In Groningen there has been an unfussy, straightforward way to get hold of a cargo trike for the day for over 30 years; long before the buzz phrases ‘mobility-as-a-service’ or ‘sharing economy’ were coined. The trikes, instantly recognisable to any Groninger, are available to hire from volunteer-run Stadswerkplaats which, although it is an unassuming organisation, is something of an institution in this city.

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RIPPL #050: Trouble in paradise: the cargo bike comes to the rescue in Groningen, “The World’s Cycling City”

This is the first in a series of RIPPL articles supported by Gemeente Groningen. In the run up to the International Cargo Bike Festival, which takes place in the city this coming June, we’re taking a deep-dive and focussing on how cycle-logistics works in this city of bikes.

Towards the end of 2018, the Municipality (or Gemeente in Dutch) of Groningen, along with a group of local stakeholders, made an ambitious pledge. They committed to making logistics in the city centre as emission-free as possible by 2025.

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RIPPL #49 Zedify – delivery with a smaller footprint

Zedify is a new, mostly pedal-powered courier company with bases across the UK. Launched on 18th June (a.k.a. Clean Air Day), the organisation has bases in Central London, East London, Brighton, Cambridge, Glasgow and Norwich, with the Cambridge base also acting as HQ. The launch of Zedify as an organisation represents a coming together of pedal-powered couriers already in operation; namely Outspoken Delivery and Recharge Cargo. Each of these have rebranded as franchisees under the Zedify umbrella. Continue reading “RIPPL #49 Zedify – delivery with a smaller footprint”

RIPPL #48: KoMoDo cooperative micro depot opens in Berlin

A new depot for last-mile deliveries has begun operating in central Berlin, where around 800,000 people live within a 5km radius. The pilot project, dubbed ‘KoMoDo’, involves several different logistics operators working under one roof. Each logistics operator has access to a 14m² transshipment container within the facility and overall management is by BEHALA – a neutral provider. Packages are delivered to the hub by conventional trucks, then distributed by bike in busy city centre streets.

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RIPPL #47: The (heavy-duty) Elefant in the room

At the International Cargo Bike Festival in Berlin last month, it was impossible to ignore the Elephant in the room… sorry, aircraft hangar.

German cargo bike manufacturer Radkutsche brought with them a huge, eye-catching pedal-powered trailer they’re calling the Elefant. The trailer has a capacity of up to 500kg and building it has been Radkutsche’s way of exploring the trend towards larger, more heavy-duty designs in cycle logistics.

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RIPPL #46: Bogbi – handmade cargo bikes for peace in Colombia

“To make high quality cool products AND to contribute to a Colombia in peace.”

That’s the vision of Bogbi, a new Bogotá-based Colombian-Norwegian cargo bike manufacturer with a social vision. The initiative is the brainchild of Colombian Eduardo Moreno and Sigurd Kihl, who met in 2016 through their wives. Both are industrial designers and the pair quickly bonded over Bogotá’s terrible traffic; both expressed a desire to transport their children and goods around without cars. Problems for which, it seemed to them, a cargo bike would be the perfect solution.

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RIPPL #45: Sainsbury’s – back in the saddle after 60 years

Sainsbury’s, one of the UK’s largest supermarket chains, has begun a cargo bike pilot scheme. A fleet of five Sainsbury’s-branded e-cargo bikes based at a store in Streatham, South London, will deliver online orders of groceries to customers within a three mile (5km) radius. Continue reading “RIPPL #45: Sainsbury’s – back in the saddle after 60 years”