(Photo: DHL’s Cubicycle is among the cargo bikes coming to New York City. Credit: DHL)[/caption]
UPS, DHL, and Amazon plan to pilot an estimated 100 commercial cargo bikes in Manhattan through a new city program that aims to reduce emissions and traffic congestion.
The Commercial Cargo Bike Program introduced this week is set to run for an initial six months and may be extended in six-month increments depending on how everything goes, according to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office.
“The program’s goal is to better understand whether cargo bicycles can successfully fit into the city’s streetscape,” the mayor’s office noted. Participating companies will monitor speed, parking, use of bike lanes, and the size of the cargo bikes, and share that data with the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT). Then DOT can use that info to make adjustments to rules around parking rates, bike size, and speed.
DHL says that cargo bikes play an important role in hitting the company’s environmental targets. Their bike, called the Cubicycle, has already been successful in Europe, said Mike Parra, DHL Express Americas CEO. Each one takes at least one conventional delivery van off the road, helping relieve congestion while increasing DHL’s service levels, he added.
Bruce Marsh, senior manager of corporate public policy at DHL, told Supply Chain Dive that their intention for the pilot is to help speed up delivery. “It will also help us in terms of our parking fines,” he said. “The city has also gotten very aggressive in terms of parking and parking management and so this will help us on that end too.”
Cargo bikes aren’t new for UPS, either. “In more than 30 cities around the world, UPS has participated in innovative public and private programs to create successful urban delivery solutions — and we know that similar approaches can work in New York City,” said Juan Perez, UPS chief information and engineering officer.
Amazon, which has a goal of reaching net-zero carbon by 2040, sees introducing a fleet of e-cargo bikes in New York City as one way to reduce carbon emissions. “We’re starting with 90 bikes and plan to significantly grow that number in the coming months,” said Rebecca Gansert, Amazon’s vice president of specialty fulfillment.
Although the NYC Department of Transportation says it targeted some of the largest operators, any freight company is allowed to participate in the program. At least 1 million packages get delivered in New York City on a daily basis, according to local lawmakers.
To help address traffic emissions, the city plans to implement congestion pricing in 2021. The focus area for the Commercial Cargo Bike Program is in Manhattan south of 60th Street, an area that the mayor’s office says will be covered by the new tolls.
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