One of London's busiest shopping streets - and a hotspot for air pollution - could see vehicles banned by 2020, if current experiments with e-bikes and walker trailers are successful.
A consortium of six businesses and organisations - including delivery giant UPS - has signed up to trial "innovative" alternatives to vans and other delivery vehicles on Oxford street that's set to start early next year.
The plan, according to the consortium, is to "provide a sustainable delivery system that could signal a new future for urban courier logistics," by introducing e-bike couriers and e-assisted walker trailers to Mayfair as an urban delivery solution.
Apparently, these "next generation of delivery trailers" will combine "speed, mobility and analytics to provide a sustainable delivery system that could signal a new future for urban courier logistics".
While the trial is set to begin in central London in the early months of 2017, the equipment is currently being run through its paces by cargo bike and e-bike delivery company Outspoken! Delivery in Cambridge.
The move, which coincides with the announcement that London Mayor Sadiq Khan is aiming to see a vehicle-free Oxford Street by 2020, comes as part of the Low Impact City Logistics project.
Part of Innovation UK's £10m investment in improving the efficiency of freight, the project is being coordinated by the product development firm responsible for the net-neutral walker trailer being tested in Cambridge, Fernhay.
UPS are the guinea pigs, however, and will be putting the tech into action by introducing e-bikes and e-assisted walker trailers to the Mayfair area in 2017.
As part of the press release for the project, UPS's sustainability director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Peter Harris said: “UPS has always prided itself on its market-leading sustainability schemes, and the Low Impact City Logistics project is no different. Using Fernhay’s advanced technology and UPS’s years of logistics experience, we can transform the way that customers receive their parcels.”
Keep your eyes peeled for the "next generation" of delivery vehicles making their way to central London next year.
