JUST RIDE the BIKE

What we want to do is establish a business case that enables FM companies to see a pathway to make a change, reduce carbon, ease congestion and maybe increase the health and wellbeing of engineers by switching from motorised vehicles to electric cargo bikes for as many Facilities Management functions and processes as possible. Why? Almost every service provider in the FM sector is seeking to improve their carbon footprint or move towards a version of net zero. They want to improve productivity. They want to maintain and where possible exceed service levels and hit sustainability and wellbeing targets.

 

With the environment, climate emergency and the increasing awareness about the impact of air quality all rising to the top of a global agenda, it is entirely appropriate to explore the possibilities for changing business practices across all sectors, at all levels to reduce carbon emissions, improve air quality and work towards enhancing health and wellbeing.

 

We think this can be done through the use of electric cargo bikes. 

 

There is a substantial increase in the use of cargo bikes across several industries. Some of which are genuinely paradigm shifting. The most visible industry has been courier deliveries in urban areas. For example, Pedal and Post in Oxford provide last mile delivery of consumer, retail and commercial goods via cargo bikes, both electric and traditional. They have contracts with all the large courier companies (DHL, Yodel etc), who deliver to their easily accessed distribution centre first. This takes away much of the pain of last mile deliveries, and is immune to traffic congestion, roadworks, air quality issues, and the safety of other road users. Another delivery company with a high profile is PedalMe which moves people and goods and materials and has even completed significant office moves.

 

But our idea needs testing and that is the purpose of our research: test our theory, establish a business case and set up a trial to demonstrate the business case is feasible. The longer term goal is to deliver a report for the workplace and FM sector to learn from and apply recommendations. The short term outputs split in two parts: 1. A slide deck which details the research, analysis, and workable insight, along with recommended next steps. 2. A pilot scheme to trial the next steps and test the business case