A new German study has found that using cargo bikes has a 'considerable' impact on whether or not people decide to own a car. Out of the 2,386 cargo bike scheme users surveyed, 45.8% had one car in their home, and 54.2% lived without a car.
Just over 18% of survey respondents said they either got rid of their car or decided against buying a car, and of these, 80% said they did so for environmental reasons. Nearly 49% said they ditched a car for financial reasons, 42% because they had “no interest in driving a car”, and about 10% due to the safety risks of driving.
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The study, from Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, surveyed people using a cargo bike share system from 58 different programmes and initiatives in Germany, controlling 751 cargo bikes.
The average age of study participants was 41.6 years old. Of those surveyed, 73.2% lived in metropolitan urban regions, 11.8% in regiopolitan urban regions (suburbs), and about 15% were in rural regions either close to or outside a city.
There are various e-cargo bike share schemes around the UK, often billed e-cargo bike ‘libraries’. In 2022, Manchester and Salford City Councils set up one of the larger schemes with the help of a £173,000 grant from the Energy Savings Trust. Hire costs just £12 per day for up to 14 days.
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Businesses are seeing the benefits of switching to e-cargo bikes too - Mungo Morgan, founder and CEO of Fulham firm ManMaid last year said that, “with the heavy traffic and the congestion, during rush hour, we’re 10 times quicker than a van would be.”
