Cargobikes, street cleaning and a new puppy!
Hello everyone,
Welcome to Issue #7 of Cargobike Culture!
This week’s issue is a little shorter than normal. It’s the school holidays here in Utrecht, which are always busy. But we’ve also said hello to our new puppy Roux!
He’s already had a few rides in the bakfiets which he seemed to enjoy. Keep subscribed for more “barkfiets” in the coming issues!
Whats coming up…
After school starts again, and the puppy becomes less puppy-like, your regularly scheduled Cargobike Culture content will be back. Here’s some of the things coming up:
Family cargobike camping
This year, we’re going on a big cycle camping trip around the Netherlands. To carry our stuff, we’ll be using our new e-bike, the electric cargobike and a custom built trailer.
Preparing for the trip is going to be a lot of work. Not to mention I need to design and build the trailer!
Cargobikes in business
We’ve covered a few different businesses using cargobike so far. But, I think there is something even more interesting about businesses exclusively using cargobikes as an USP. Cargobikes can be something to set a business apart from their competition.
Plenty of customers are starting to make choices about who they buy products and services from, based on their environmental credentials. Operating via cargobikes is a pretty big indicator that you’re dealing with a business which aligns to your values.
So far I’ve got electricians, gardeners, packageless food stores and a family doctor to tell you about.
Why people don’t use cargobikes
Finally, the next big project for the newsletter is going to be a piece of research in my neighbourhood about families and others who don’t have a cargobike. There are plenty of people in my neighbourhood who I know would be prime candidates for a cargobike, but don’t own one. I’ll be finding out why, and what that means for the wider cargobike market. Because afterall, if people aren’t adopting cargobikes on mass in Utrecht of all places, what’s the hope for everywhere else?
Cargobike of the week
This issue’s cargobike of the week was spotted by my colleague and Cargobike Culture subscriber Kate Every!
Whilst out and about in London, Kate spotted this Urban Arrow Tender model with a pickup box (keen readers will recognise it as the same model as the dog walker cargobike from issue 5).
It looks like it’s being used for street cleaning duties around Vauxhall, which even keener readers will recognise as the same use for a cargobike as Wandsworth Council we saw in last weeks issue!
Twitter corner
Since I covered Amsterdam’s cargobiking dog walkers a few issues ago, they’re showing up all over the place. Check out this one in London, covered by dogs-in-bikes photographer Honor Elliott.
I also discovered this week that a McDonalds in Paris has their own cargobike for local trash collection.
And finally, ANOTHER garbage collecting cargobike in Rotterdam! I think we might be onto something here.
Thanks for reading! And if you’d like to support the newsletter for just $5 per month, you can below!