First Appearance Of Electric Cargo Bikes In Scotland
As anyone who’s worked on courier jobswill tell you, the transport industry is always evolving, and it’s crucial that firms and workers are able to adapt. As well as needing to remain competitive and offer the best service possible, businesses must also deal with regulatory pressures and fast-changing technology.
As concerns over the climate crisis and clean air rise, many local authorities are also providing incentives for transport firms to adopt greener technology. In this article, we’ll cover the first appearance of electric cargo bikes in Scotland and explore what it might mean for the industry.
New Funding for New Technology
In 2018, SP Energy Networks established a £10 million Green Economy Fund, aiming to produce low-carbon heating and transport, and contribute to educating the workforce ‘for a greener future’. Support provided by this fund helps the Scottish government reach its green targets, as well as improving local air quality and boosting economic growth, ensuring work doesn’t dry up for those in the delivery industry.
In the words of SP’s chief executive Frank Mitchell, ‘Scotland has always been a nation of innovators’, and SP shares the government’s vision ‘of making a cleaner, greener Scotland’. Funding projects helps to accelerate the economy and ‘deliver a better future quicker for our communities.’
SoulRiders
One company that recently received support from SP was SoulRiders, a Glasgow-based charity which aims to, in the words of chief executive Rashid Khaliq, ‘create stronger communities through cycling.’
While a cycling charity might not seem directly relevant to courier jobs, SoulRiders used the money to launch a new fleet of these alternative cargo bikes, to be used in both delivery and waste disposal.
Khalid laid out the charity’s aims with the scheme. The project, he said ‘will reduce the number of vans and lorries on our streets’ and help resolve issues including traffic and pollution in our cities.
Electric Cargo Bikes and the Future
With private and public institutions committed to driving a low-carbon economy, it’s easy to see how courier jobs could change. Indeed, the industry is already adapting in other UK cities. In March, for instance, the Co-op launched an online delivery service through a dedicated service, solely using electric cargo bikes. After a successful trial run in Chelsea, it’s being rolled out to the whole of London.
The Department for Transport is also working on ways to promote use of electric bikes and other electric vehicles, especially for last-mile deliveries in big cities. Along with the new Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) in London and with other city authorities working on similar schemes, there’s good reason for anyone doing courier jobsto get familiar with this new, alternative bike technology.
Although SoulRiders’ plan is small scale and localised to Scotland, electric bikes are likely to become a key part of the changing transport industry – and perhaps very soon.
Author Plate
Norman Dulwich is a correspondent for Courier Exchange, the world's largest neutral trading hub for same day courier jobs in the express freight exchange industry. Numerous transport exchange businesses are networked together on their website, trading jobs and capacity through what is now the fastest growing Freight Exchange in the UK.
