When Cargo Bikes Replace Vans

Last year I was contacted by Dan Piatkowski , an American academic and urban planner based in Oslo, Norway, where he is on the faculty at OsloMet – storbyuniversitetet . We connected on LinkedIn just some months before, April 2022, after I watched an interview with Dan by John Simmerman at John’s Youtube channel Active Towns . Dan wanted to talk with me about recent developments in cargo bikes and e-cargo bikes as he had started working on a book about transitioning to car-free cities.

The book, “Bicycle City: Riding the Bike Boom to a Brighter Future” is written and published now, and Dan captures in words my ideas on the potential of cargo bikes way better than I ever could.

“When it comes to cargo bikes and freight, the whole is likely greater than the sum of its parts. That is, in ability to get a package delivered quickly and sustainably is good, but a city functioning around cargo bike delivery services could be great. If cargo bikes replace delivery vehicles, it will mean a reallocation of urban space. Traffic lanes will lose some of their largest and most dangerous users, and that traffic will be transferred to the bike lanes.

But moving freight, delivery, and service vehicles from the car lane to the bike lane fundamentally alters the purpose of the bike lane. Jos said, “If cargo bikes replace vans (on roads), they should replace the space on the road.” As working cargo bikes replace service and delivery vehicles but still use the bike lane, they are moving traffic problems from the road to the bike lane.

From a system perspective, it is counterproductive for delivery trucks to vacate vehicle lanes only to provide more space for cars. For working cargo bikes to be part of a new mobility solution in cities, working cargo bikes need to occupy the same space as the trucks and vans they are replacing. Doing so can start a process of altering street space.

The process begins with cargo bike services and delivery vehicles functioning as mobile traffic calming, taking the lanes, and slowing things down. Reducing the speed differential between vehicle lanes, bike lanes, and sidewalks improves safety for everyone while also making (former) car lanes more accessible to cyclists. The end goal is that over time, nonessential vehicle traffic will be made inefficient and crowded out of the roadway. An ideal streetscape in a car-lite future could include space for public transit, mixed uses, bike lanes, and sidewalks. Cargo bikes can be both beneficiaries of this transition and catalysts for accelerating it.”

[Bicycle City, p.67-68]

You can watch here John Simmerman's Active Towns with Dan Piatkowski, May 22nd, 2024: "Bicycle City: Riding the Bike Boom to a Brighter Future"

And here episode 115 from April 2022 "First Impressions from Oslo, Norway"

You can order the book at Island Press : https://islandpress.org/books/bicycle-city#desc

Cover design by Martyn Schmoll