CoBiUM
Your next car could be a cargo bike - the climate-friendly alternative
Half of the total number of car trips are shorter than five kilometres In urban communities around 80 percent of the car trips are shorter than three to four kilometres. Where a normal bike or a bus might not be a convenient alternative, an electric cargo bike could very well do the job.
Watch our film to get an idea how you could use a cargo bike!
News archive
NEWS STORY
Cargo bikes are best suited for city driving
2021-06-23
Pilot project CoBiUM evaluation show that cargo bikes work well even in smaller cities and that municipalities can play an important role in the shift towards a more sustainable transport system. Setting up a bike library or pool is an effective starting point to make cargo bikes a more common transport alternative.
In CoBiUM the partners arranged different pilot applications to identify good practice for cargo bike usage in municipal service, for residents and businesses. The objective was to identify drivers and barriers for the implementation of cargo bikes in specific fields and to identify good practices.
In 2019 four partners – Gdynia, Greifswald, Slagelse and Växjö - started to conduct pilots in their cities, later on in 2020 Slupsk and Guldborgsund followed. This final evaluation report describes the results from a general overview down to the cargo bike drivers.
A total of 16 pilots were conducted, seven aimed at municipalities, five at businesses and four to residents. In five of the six cities the cargo bikes had GPS trackers and the total distance up to March 2021 were 22.799 km. The data shows that 65 % of all trips were shorter than 2 km. This confirms the assumption that cargo bikes are best suited for city driving.
The evaluation also shows that municipalities offer very good opportunities for a modal shift to cargo bikes. There are two main applications: either direct placement at a specific department or a centrally managed cargo bike pool.
Concerning the application field of residents – shown by our library pilots in Greifswald, Slupsk and Växjö – the conclusion is that the specific target groups who used and appreciated the bike libraries were:
- people without driving licence
- people with a strong environmental interest
- people who try to avoid buying a second family car
- people who go by bike anyway and are used to this way of transport.
These users highly appreciate lending offers and use it for getting experience, to test different cargo bikes or “just for fun” as well as an environmental-friendly opportunity to conduct specific kinds of transport. The evaluation suggests that library system also are a good way of promoting cargo bikes to businesses and organizations.
Download the evaluation (June 2021)
EXTERNAL NEWS
A single cargo bike replacing a diesel transporter saves 5 tons of CO2 per year
Research from the CityChangerCargoBike (CCCB) project reveals that cargo bikes outmatch traditional delivery vans in almost every respect. While urban delivery trips account for 15% of all urban trips, their share of energy use currently amounts to 30% of all urban transport energy consumption. Cargo bikes, on the other hand, are a zero-emission transport option powered by humans.
Read the article on last mile deliveries on ECF hompage (2020-02-06)
ONLINE ARTICLE ON COBIUM
Read the article on the German bike library at the UBC website from 2020-05-14
NEWS STORY
European interest
2019-10-07
CoBiUM is featured on the FEDARENE web page, where the CoBiUM film is promoted. See the article.
NEWS STORY
Release of the CoBiUM film
2019-07-05
One of CoBiUM missions is to show that electric carbo bikes can be a real and convenient alternative to fossile-fuelled vehicles for many people living in urban areas. This film hopes to convey that in with a tongue-in-cheek sort of way.
NEWS STORY
Cargo bike promotion in south Baltic cities
2018-10-12
Several cities around the southern part of the Baltic sea are currently in the process of procuring electric cargo bikes. The bikes will be lent out to businesses and private persons for a limited trial period or used in municipal services. The purpose is to let people find out how a cargo bike can work for them in their life or business, by being able to borrow a cargo bike for a couple of weeks. Another purpose is making the cargo bikes a regular feature of the cityscape, as municipal employees ride their cargo bikes around town.
In the cities of Greifswald, Slupsk, Gdynia, Slagelse, Växjö and Guldborgssunds municipality cargo bikes will be a visible mode of transport the next couple of years, as the South Baltic Programme financed project CoBiUM promotes electric cargo bikes as an alternative to fossil fuelled transports.
Long ago cargo bikes were a common sight in many cities, but they disappeared when cars became prevalent in the 1950's. Today, with more electric models to choose from and a wish for greener deliveries, the cargo bikes are again on the rise.
According to Swedish national statistics, 51 percent of all motorized trips in cities occur along such short distances and with so little cargo that they could be done by cargo bike. An electric cargo bike will easily cover a radius of 15-20 kilometres and are suitable for transport of small quantities of goods or equipment for commercial or repair companies. Or for commuting to work, shopping, or travel to sports activities.
- In large cities cargo bikes are common nowadays, but we think that there is a great potential also in a medium-sized city, says CoBiUM lead partner Amanda Johansson, Växjö municipality. Electric cargo bikes are a greener transport alternative, an alternative that both saves money and the climate, with a bonus of added health value.
Social media
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Project progress
Feb 2018 - Project starts
March 2018 - Kickoff takes place in Växjö
April 2018 - Project partners visit the cargo bike fair at Velo Berlin 14-15 April
April 2018 - Research and stock-taking in the field of cargo bikes. Creation of the project steering group.
April 2018 - The web page at cobium.eu is published.
June 2018 - Stock-taking is completed, now follows analysis to serve as foundation for the creation of pilots.
September 2018 - Preparations for procuring cargo bikes to the pilots has started.
January 2019 - Production start of pilot campaign material.
Feb/April 2019 - Several pilots starts.
May 2019 - Project partners met in Greifswald discussing the pilots and the evaluation.
June 2019 - Production of film and graphic tool box.
July 2019 - Release of the CoBiUM cargo bike film
September 2019 - First stories from pilots were compiled and published.
October 2019 - Partner meeting in Slupsk focused on peer review of the pilots.
November 2019 - Work with midterm evaluation.
December 2019 - collection of news stories for the web page.
February 2020 - First analysis of pilots compiled. Planning for pilot period 2020 are under way.
March 2020 - The planned partner meeting and study visit to Copenhagen had to be cancelled due to the corona virus. The partner meeting and workshop were transformed to an online event.
April 2020 - the Covid-19 pandemic causes a halt to most of the pilots, while some other like the bike library in Växjö still runs without any disturbances.
May 2020 - Development of the joint event format and the guidelines begins in ernest.
August 2020 - As societies open up a bit more, the cargo bike pilots are starting up again, where they before were hindered by the pandemic.
September 2020 - Lockdowns starting again as the pandemic gets worse again.
October 2020 - Bilateral meetings.
November 2020 - Project are being prolonged to October 2021.
December 2020 - Internal work with deliverables and reports.
January 2021 - collection of pilot data from partners.
April 2021 - partner meeting online
May 2021 - guidelines are finalized for translation
June 2021 - Evaluation report finalized and published.
July 2021 - films for dissemination produced.
August 2021 - the guidelines are published and dissemination started.
September 2021 - national dissemination events.
October 2021 - final conference.
Reports
Baseline report Ex-ante evaluation study (update with results from the data survey 2019-02-18) D 3.1
Evaluation report (Juni 2021) D 5.1
Better knowledge and increased use of cargo bikes in urban traffic!
CoBiUM (Cargo bikes in urban mobility) aims at reducing the number of fossil fuel-operated vehicles in urban mobility in the partner cities by promoting cargo bikes as a transportation alternative. Short-distance trips in an urban environment are ideal candidates for moving from car to bike. For distances up to 5 kilometres the readiness of people to use their (non-electric) bike is highest. In the case of pedelecs the corresponding distance increases to 15-20 kilometres. We assume that these numbers do not differ for cargo bikes; the problem is rather that cargo bikes are not very well known and considered to be something very special and not for ordinary use. Through pilot applications, communication and campaigning, CoBiUM intends to enhance knowledge of cargo bikes and effectively increase their use amongst various target groups.
CoBiUM will focus on three thematic areas (private users, municipal services and business logistics) and offer innovative and sustainable solutions, helping municipalities in the South Baltic Region to integrate cargo bikes into their urban mobility concepts.
As part of CoBiUM, the partners will carry out pilot projects (with small scale-investments) in one or more of the three thematic areas (private use, municipal services and business logistics). The pilot projects themselves, as well as the accompanying communication and campaigning, will take into account the different levels of cycling culture and mobility behaviour in each country. The project will result in guidelines and campaign material for municipalities wanting to replicate the actions of CoBiUM.
In CoBiUM, eight partners from four countries work together in joint cross-border efforts to improve the quality and environmental sustainability of transport services in the South Baltic Region.
CoBiUM (Feb 2018 - Oct 2021) is part-financed by the South Baltic Programme, which supports joint cross-border efforts to improve the quality and environmental sustainability of transport services in the South Baltic area.
The contents of this web page are the sole responsibility of the author[s] and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union, the Managing Authority or the Joint Secretariat of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020.