Will Royal Mail ever consider using Cargo bikes or even E-Cargo Bikes?

[John_S]

Hi All,

My apologies if something similar has already been discussed.

However whilst cycling to & from work recently and seeing the small Royal Mail vans that go out to deliver letters etc., rather than the big parcel delivery vans, it got me thinking about potential alternatives.

Now I'll hold my hands up to not being an expert or having the knowledge about why the Royal Mail stopped using bikes in the first place and I'm sure that there are lots of people on this forum who will know the exact answer and so please forgive my ignorance. I'm going to make a guess and say they stopped using bikes in an age when lots of people are ordering more and more things online and so there's lots more bulky packages & parcels to deliver, as a percentage compared to letters, than there used to be in days gone by. So perhaps that was at least some of the reasoning behind the Royal Mail ditching bikes for deliveries.

Moving to today there now seems to be more & more cargo bikes available and now even electrically assisted cargo bikes. Therefore it got me wondering about whether or not cargo &/or e-cargo bikes could potentially be a cost effective way of the Royal Mail to make some of their deliveries?

Now I've no idea of how a cargo and/or e-cargo bike stacks up on a cost benefit / time taken to complete deliveries analysis but whilst on my commute to work I've just been wondering whether in the future we will ever see the Royal Mail return to the use of bikes for at least some of their deliveries.

Thank you putting up with my thoughts on this subject.

John

[Cyril Haearn]

In Germany the Post uses lots of cycles with electric motors, there are drop boxes where they pick up more stuff to deliver without having to go back to base

There was no suitable electric vehicle so one was specially developed, *street scooter*, +1?

I think it is an interesting problem, in suburbs or semi-rural areas motors are used, they stop at 50m intervals, but maybe they have to carry so much stuff that a cycle would be unsuitable, maybe there is no optimal method

[rmurphy195]

Perhaps if they do, Pashley will regain the contract!

[Postboxer]

I was considering whether it would be possible to work as a parcel delivery courier by bike, in an inner city area you could probably get around almost as quick, although a large cargo bike might not be as good at getting through traffic, it could still use cycle routes and short cuts and maybe save time parking etc, but maybe security would be the biggest problem.

[pete75]

La Poste seem to manage





As do Deutsche Post

[Cunobelin]

La Poste seem to manage

Clever front wheel attachment, acts as a stand for the bike, and locks against the wheel

[ChrisButch]

As far as I remember the (then) CTC lobbied the Royal Mail when the old postie's bikes were withdrawn, and actually succeeded insofar as the RM experimented with various cargo bikes. They were eventually rejected on various grounds, among which were that the manufacturers of the most suitable bikes could not or were unwilling to scale up to the required production quantity.

[pwa]

Bikes of any sort will not work in rural areas. They just can't carry enough.

In towns the story may be different. But I wonder about security. No bike bag will be all that secure. At least with a van you can quickly lock it remotely as you are walking away. With a bike you will be trusting to luck. In the worst case scenario the whole bike and its cargo could be gone when you get back. So maybe the future lies more with electric vans rather than bikes.

[gaz]

So perhaps that was at least some of the reasoning behind the Royal Mail ditching bikes for deliveries.

You might like this guide to the reasoning behind the decision.

[pete75]

Bikes of any sort will not work in rural areas. They just can't carry enough.

On a cycle tour through Northern France last summer we saw La Poste staff making deliveries by bike in many small villages. They were using bikes like the one pictured above or three wheeled cargo bikes which appeared to have electric assist.

[pwa]

Bikes of any sort will not work in rural areas. They just can't carry enough.

On a cycle tour through Northern France last summer we saw La Poste staff making deliveries by bike in many small villages. They were using bikes like the one pictured above or three wheeled cargo bikes which appeared to have electric assist.

Maybe they were just delivering letters. Our postie delivers letters, parcels, the lot. He wouldn't get many deliveries done with a bike.

[bikes4two]

So perhaps that was at least some of the reasoning behind the Royal Mail ditching bikes for deliveries.

You might like this guide to the reasoning behind the decision.

That link is definitely worth a read - it made I chuckle!

[atlas_shrugged]

I used to work as a postman on a bike when I was a yoof. It was a great job and you get to know people in a village. The bike is a superb way of delivering letters and small packages.

Irrational decisions like getting rid of the Pashley bikes are better understood if we consider that many of our large corporations are now run by Psychopaths and Sociopaths. For example the selling off of Sturmey-Archer by a hedge fund to Taiwanese manufacturers was never made in the interests of the UK or its workers but in the interest of profit. Same thing for booting out the Pashley bikes.

What would make a fantastic difference to letter and package distribution would be the standardisation of letter boxes perhaps at the entrance to properties (similar to the US) and perhaps with an automated secure cat flap so that packages could be dropped quickly without having to trudge up the drive. It is the last 10 meters that takes up all the time/money. Imagine if an automated robot arm could travel down a terraced street delivering everything from letters to milk using a secure cat flap.

I can report that some postmen have kept their bikes and are doing 'sneaky' deliveries using them.

[pwa]

My postman (he is a man, so the term is appropriate) does our village and surrounding areas, covering quite a lot of mileage and numerous remote properties. He delivers letters and packages. I don't think anything with two wheels could carry the load. But I'm sure an electric van could do it.

[Cunobelin]

The Post Office Tried to make helmets compulsory a few years ago

After a thorough trouncing by the HSE and Cycling organisations They were forced to give up

My personal opinion is that the banning of delivery bicycles was merely a hissy fit over this defeat