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.

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

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.

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

RIPPL #44: Construction materials, delivered by e-trike

Utrecht-based housing maintenance company Wits, along with several partners, is experimenting with using cargo bikes to deliver consolidated consignments of building materials to sites across the city. But perhaps the most interesting aspect of the ‘Slim Transport de Stad in’ project (Smart Transport in the City) is the unusually high capacity of the e-trike involved. It can carry up to 300kg, making it a viable method of carrying building materials. Continue reading “RIPPL #44: Construction materials, delivered by e-trike”

RIPPL #43: The joke is… there is no joke

Coolblue is a consumer electronics store based in The Netherlands and Belgium, mostly online-based, there are also 9 physical locations. Founded in 1999, the business had a turnover of €1.2 billion in 2017.

Coolblue announced last week that they were going to begin delivering packages by bike. The service, dubbed “CoolblueFietst” (Coolblue Cycles/Bikes) will begin running in Eindhoven and Den Haag (The Hague) before rolling out to all major Dutch and Belgian cities. Continue reading “RIPPL #43: The joke is… there is no joke”

RIPPL #42: Chain Reaction – Blockchain’s potential impact on cycle logistics

As one of the most hyped technologies of the past couple of years, the potential of Blockchain to dramatically transform logistics is thought by many to be huge. The Municipality of Rotterdam and Port of Rotterdam have teamed up to found BlockLab, a ‘Field Lab’ exploring applications for the technology. Continue reading “RIPPL #42: Chain Reaction – Blockchain’s potential impact on cycle logistics”

RIPPL #39: PostNL – 60 vans for 60 bikes, trikes or LEVS

The Dutch Post Office, PostNL, have begin systematically testing last-mile delivery vehicles. Naturally this includes cargo bikes, but they are also trying out Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs), such as the Stint. I met Nanette Wielenga, Bicycle Network Project Manager for PostNL, to find out more. We met at a depot on the western edge of Amsterdam at around 6pm and discussed the project as PostNL delivery riders, known Stadsbezorgers, returned from their evening rounds on various bikes, trikes and LEVs. Continue reading “RIPPL #39: PostNL – 60 vans for 60 bikes, trikes or LEVS”

RIPPL #38: Marleen Kookt – Meals on Two Wheels

Marleen Kookt is an Amsterdam-based meal delivery business founded in 2012 by Marleen Jansen and Joris Keijzer. Following a 6 month sabbatical spent in Majorca, during which Marleen experimented with various recipe ideas, they returned to Amsterdam. Finding that they did not want to return to their office jobs (both have backgrounds in large-scale retail) they started Marleen Kookt (Dutch for ‘Marleen Cooks’). Continue reading “RIPPL #38: Marleen Kookt – Meals on Two Wheels”

RIPPL #36: Boat-Bike: DHL’s multimodal Amsterdam logistics chain

Send a DHL package to the centre of Amsterdam and there is a good chance it will take an unconventional multimodal journey. Bikes, with their ability to navigate the last mile in the narrow, busy streets of Amsterdam’s old centre, act as the last link in an unconventional logistics chain. Continue reading “RIPPL #36: Boat-Bike: DHL’s multimodal Amsterdam logistics chain”

RIPPL #32: Fietskoeriers – nationwide, same day deliveries by bike

Fietskoeriers.nl is a collective of 15 bicycle courier companies who together cover every major town and city in the Netherlands. They offer a number of different services, but one in particular is unique: they are able to deliver packages by bike on a same day service, nationwide. Continue reading “RIPPL #32: Fietskoeriers – nationwide, same day deliveries by bike”