54 cargo bike operators cruise through London as numbers soar 63%

London continues to be an outlier in the UK in cycle terms, with cargo bike useage soaring 63% in the city, according to Clean Cities analysis.

Last week, a group of  cargo bike operators, including 54 businesses including plumbers and electricians rode through central London, over London Bridge and past the Houses of Parliament as part of the annual Cargo Bike Cruise and in support of Clean Cargo Capital. It’s a new campaign aiming to accelerate the uptake of electric and pedal powered commercial vehicles as part of a ‘green deal for freight’.

Campaigners and businesses are calling on increased support from the Mayor for the uptake of cargo bikes as an alternative to polluting diesel and petrol vans, which have hidden social and environmental costs estimated to total £2.46 billion annually in London.

More than £100 million has been committed by TfL for businesses to scrap polluting vans but none of this has been dedicated to accelerate the uptake of cargo bikes.

Campaigners and cargo bike operators see this as a missed opportunity and are calling for a ‘Green Deal for Freight’, with remaining funds allocated to a ‘Bikes for Business’ project so that tailored advice and subsidies are made available to any London businesses wanting to adopt cargo bikes.

The group want to see measures that level the playing field between cargo bikes and more polluting delivery modes, such as a fairer and smarter Congestion Charge that more accurately reflects environmental and social costs of different modes, as well as an urgent river crossings package for cargo bikes as they are excluded from Silvertown Tunnel, which opens next year.

Jack Skillen, Director of Sustainability and Place at Team London Bridge, the business improvement district, said: “In this area alone over 200 businesses have made a switch to cargo bike, whether it is for transporting legal contracts, blood samples, stationary or waste.

“The change in London Bridge has been dramatic, and is having such a positive impact on the environment and the public. But there are barriers limiting progress, so we need partners, including the Mayor, local and national governments to share our vision if we are going to see this positive transformation continue across London”.

Jemima Hartshorn, Founder, Mums For Lungs: “We know that a quarter of a million children in London have asthma and that comes at a huge human and financial cost to all of us. When every breathe we take has toxins in, the impact of this crisis is one that affects each and every Londoner, but it is a crisis that is avoidable.

“As demonstrated today with the Cargo Bike Cruise, there are alternatives to the dirty diesel and petrol vehicles we see on our roads in still increasing numbers. We must see London transition to a cleaner and greener city, we must incentivise businesses to adopt not only electric vehicles but innovative and yet simple solutions such as the cargo bike.

“Whether it be grocery deliveries or a local electrician, the humble cargo bike is being shown as an impactful tool in decarbonising local economies and cleaning up London’s air. We need to see further support from the Mayor for businesses to take part in this pedal powered revolution.”