Evaluation of Starting Up Cargo Bike Deliveries - a Pilot Project in Oslo

TØI Report 1619/2018 Authors: Tale Ørving, Karin Fossheim, Christian Weber and Jardar Andersen Oslo 2018 58 pages Norwegian DHL Express is, in an ongoing pilot, delivering express parcels and documents with electric cargo bikes in Oslo city centre. The pilot is a collaboration between DHL Express Norway, Oslo municipality the Agency for Urban Environment and the Norwegian National Road Administration. This report evaluates the start-up and planning phase of this project. Overall, the findings indicate that it has been challenging for DHL Express during the start-up period to reach their target of an average of 90 deliveries with 2-3 cargo bikes. The reason for this is the design of the cargo bike adjusting it to the industry in which it operates and difficulties in recruiting cyclists. With a shorter range, capacity and speed is a cargo bike used for express and parcel deliveries dependent on a location in the city centre for storage of the goods and for the cargo bike to be locked in overnight. Due to limited knowledge and experiences with these kinds of activities within the municipality identifying this location in the city centre was a key challenge in starting up the cargo bike pilot. For similar logistics activities in the future it can therefore be valuable to ease this process. Either by 1) defining space in land use plans for logistics activities, 2) setting aside existing locations for this usage or 3) by developing a centrally located multi-user terminal. Finally, the pilot has been an important driver in focusing and spreading information on urban freight. It has also created a fruitful collaborative environment between public and private sector.