Prague: Implementing cargo bicycle hubs
The Challenge
- Delivery vans occupy the historical centre of town
- Bicycles are not very well used in the city and cargo bikes were almost unheard of by citizens before this scheme
- The terrain in Prague city is hilly and there is a lot of traffic which creates a perception that it is unsafe and impractical to cycle
- The winters in Prague are very cold with snowfall
- There has been a very steep rise in the number of fast delivery grocery shops and use of e-commerce
- There are currently no restrictions on delivery vehicles in the centre of town
- The challenge was to show that cargo bikes are a viable solution for last mile deliveries – local businesses did not think it was possible before the scheme
- The location for the proposed depot was an underbridge parking lot and needed to be cleaned up and converted into a depot with appropriate facilities installed
The Solution
- Trialling e-cargo bikes in the city to raise awareness of this mode
- Depots for e-cargo bikes were installed to showcase a new method of last mile logistics in the city as a sustainable alternative to polluting delivery vans
- The depot in Florenc, Prague was agreed and developed within 5 months after City Council support was acquired
- The depot includes facilities for couriers including showers, toilets, a kitchen and break room. It also has 24/7 security and access restrictions
- Involving logistics providers and city officials was an important part of the scheme
- The scheme was independently funded and did not receive EU subsidies, this helped to ensure it would continue as the operation
- The City government runs the scheme and Ekolo hold the confidential data and statistics
Making an impact
- Turned a car dominated space (parking lot) into a bike hub depot in 4 weeks
- 50,000 parcels have been delivered through the scheme (Nov 2020 - Jul 2021)
- 23,000 cargo e-bike kilometres driven within the initial 8 months of operation (Nov 2020 - Jul 2021)
- Citizens noticed another kind of delivery service and welcomed it
- Ekolo is lobbying Council for delivery van restrictions as a result of the success of the cargo bike scheme
- Financially sustainable scheme, independently funded by logistics providers and is now run by the City
- The scheme was launched in November 2020 but the winter weather did not put off the logistics providers and they enjoyed cycling all year round
50,000
parcels
were delivered from November 2020 to July 2021
23,000
km
were driven on cargo-ebikes from November 2020 to July 2021
Lessons learnt
- The temporary bike depot in Florenc is now permanent and a second depot in will launch in autumn 2021 in the Smichov within the city’s business district
- 8 logistics providers have already signed up for the second depot
- The cargo bike hub had a very clear budget that was met and it did not depend on external financing or subsidies
- Willingness on the users (logistics) side to take the risk on a new business case
- It can take time to see changes in policy/restriction on vans due to local politics
- Appropriate facilities are required for couriers and 24/7 security is needed
- Even in Prague - a city which has under 1% year average modal share of cycling transport, it is possible to operate delivery services on Cargo e-bike
- The “snowball effect” brings new players into this topic. The capacity for the second depot was booked out immediately
- It is best if logistics providers are willing and able to organise their own fleets
- The cargo Depot municipal investment can be €0, while the logistic companies pay a little monthly fee to cover the services and the space is provided by the city