Micro-mobility and freight in focus at Smart Transport Conference
Transport is the sector with the most CO2 emissions in the UK, at 26% – according to Smart Transport – yet the sector has made very limited progress towards reducing them.
The Smart Transport Conference series aims to tackle the environmental impact of transport, while improving collaboration between private and public sector organisations to make transport better for all. The first session ran in February this year in Birmingham, followed up by a London-set conference in September. There’s another tabled for 17 March 2020, back in Brum.
The impact of Micro-Mobility on improving the transport sector and how a clean, low cost freight revolution is possible – if government and industry work to embrace alternatives – are among the key topics under discussion. Both have the potential to impact on the cycling industry, in terms of the side that works with business and freight firms with the likes of e-cargo bikes, as well as in the more traditional industry remit of selling bicycles to punters where there is more improved cycle infrastructure.
CyclingIndustry.News increasingly hears of examples of business working with the cycling industry to improve transport options, most recently Hammersmith’s zero-emissions freight hub – funded by Transport for London – working with e-cargobikes.com.
It’s not just in London. Local retailer-backed app ShopAppy teamed up with cargo bike delivery service Bike Box Delivery in Stevenage to deliver product via cargo bike rather than through motor vehicle.
“We run cars and vans, so we have to adapt and adopt,” said attendee Matt Dale, Head of Consultancy, ALD Automotive. “This is one of the best places to learn about it and also to share our experience into what we’re hearing from our customers. One of the challenges is disseminating what is here and now, what’s in three or four-years’ time and what’s in five to ten years’ time and making that reality through collaboration between public and private.
One of the conference speakers, Carl Bayliss, VP, Mobility & Home Energy, Centrica. “The opportunity for zero emission, zero fatality and zero congestion is something that we have a shared opportunity to benefit from,” said “The key challenges and opportunities in realising these eco systems are in having a single-minded approach and the right partners around the table to be able to deliver some of the opportunities that we’re looking to bring to the market today.”
There’s more info on the Smart Transport site.
