Cargo bike use rises by 63% across London

London has seen a 63% increase in cargo bikes used by Londoners and businesses from 2022 to 2023, according to analysis by Clean Cities.

Research has shown that cargo bikes can reduce congestion, improve business efficiency, and support the development of more liveable and healthier cities.

Analysis from Transport for London (TfL) highlights that cargo bikes could replace up to 17% of vans in parts of London by 2030.

This is equivalent to more than 62 million miles, or 260 trips to the Moon with carbon savings resulting from cargo bike growth across Greater London in the region of 30,000 tonnes of CO2 a year by 2030.

To highlight and celebrate the increase in cargo bikes, last week, central London saw more than 80 cargo bikes take part in the annual Cargo Bike Cruise and in support of Clean Cargo Capital, a new campaign aiming to accelerate the uptake of electric and pedal powered commercial vehicles as part of a “Green Deal for Freight”.

A group of 54 businesses who operate cargo bikes rode through central London, over London Bridge and past the Houses of Parliament, to celebrate different organisations using the sustainable alternative to petrol or diesel vans.

MPs joined couriers, plumbers and electricians in the largest convoy to date.

Campaigners and businesses are calling on increased support from the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan for the uptake of cargo bikes as an alternative to polluting diesel and petrol vans, which have hidden social and environmental costs estimated to total £2.46 billion annually in London.

Jack Skillen, director of sustainability and place at Team London Bridge, the business improvement district, said: “In this area alone over 200 businesses have made a switch to cargo bike, whether it is for transporting legal contracts, blood samples, stationary or waste.

“The change in London Bridge has been dramatic, and is having such a positive impact on the environment and the public.

“But there are barriers limiting progress, so we need partners, including the Mayor, local and national governments to share our vision if we are going to see this positive transformation continue across London.”

More than £100 million has been committed by TfL for businesses to scrap polluting vans, but none of this has been dedicated to accelerate the uptake of cargo bikes.

Campaigners see this as a “missed opportunity” and are calling for a “Green Deal for Freight”, with remaining funds allocated to a “Bikes for Business” project so that tailored advice and subsidies are made available to any London businesses wanting to adopt cargo bikes.

The group want to see measures that level the playing field between cargo bikes and more polluting delivery modes, such as a fairer and smarter Congestion Charge that more accurately reflects environmental and social costs of different modes, as well as a river crossings package for cargo bikes as they are excluded from Silvertown Tunnel, which opens next year.

Jemima Hartshorn, founder of Mums For Lungs, added: “We know that a quarter of a million children in London have asthma and that comes at a huge human and financial cost to all of us.

“When every breath we take has toxins in, the impact of this crisis is one that affects each and every Londoner, but it is a crisis that is avoidable.

“We must see London transition to a cleaner and greener city, we must incentivise businesses to adopt not only electric vehicles but innovative and yet simple solutions such as the cargo bike.”