The CAIRGO BIKE project Journal N° 1

At the rearranged COP 25 conference in Madrid (under presidency of Chile, 2019) Frans Timmermans stated that “Urban climate action is at the heart of the European Green Deal and is essential to achieving a Global Green Deal”. Over the last 20+ years and not only in terms of climate change, more and more cities across Europe and across the world, have been championing a cause to intensify intervention at the urban, local level as an effective force for wider economic, societal and environmental improvement. Still not all cities, globally, have a governance situation or the means to effect such positive localised, and so catalysing, transformations independently. Brussels Capital Region, however, like many other European cities, has been quick to recognise and attempt to capitalise on the potential of instigating own action, particularly to address environmental challenges. The Cairgo Bike project is the latest in a series of sustainable initiatives and forms a logical extension to existing actions and strategy set out in the Region’s Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan “Good Move”. https://mobilite-mobiliteit.brussels/en/good-move

The goal is to add to the weaponry aimed at achieving a radical, essential improvement in urban air quality. The focus is on achieving fundamental behaviour change, driving a modal shift away from use of private cars and LGVs (light goods vehicles) to take up the cargo bike as a viable, practical alternative. This is targeted both at families and citizens in general but also at professionals, one person self-employed businesses, small and medium sized enterprises, delivery and service providers, large companies and municipalities…   
In this first project Journal the intention is to describe the scene, the actors, the dramatic challenges, ambitions and initiatives which populate the Cairgo Bike firmament.

The project is built on implementing a set of mutually supporting actions designed to understand and make behaviour change happen. If we dissect the various components of this integrated package of activities (communication and awareness raising, “conversion”, cargo bike testing, sharing/renting services, purchase incentive, secure parking provision, monitoring user experience and air quality impact) we are immediately reminded that it is extremely difficult for any single agency - public authority or private - to fulfil such a mission. So the concept of partnership becomes the fundamental beating heart of the initiative. The key here is to construct a team of the most relevant stakeholders based on knowledge, experience and capacity to tackle the task in hand. This translates into the assembly of an active group of diverse stakeholders committed to cooperate and deliver the various, often overlapping, steps essential to the transformation process. In this sense Cairgo Bike looks to have established a balanced and well adapted partnership model and programme of action, capable of driving the transition process.

In broad terms:

• Public authorities, Brussels Mobility (BM), Brussels Environment (BE) take charge of project coordination, management  and communication (both project and target groups).
• The social enterprise Urbike and the Cycling promotion non-profit organisation Pro Velo have responsibility for a programme of training and testing for professional (business) users and private citizens/families respectively.
• The bicycle service provider “start-up” Remorquable and the Car-sharing platform Cambio offer opportunity to lend or rent respectively bike trailers and cargo bikes based on the principle of “Don’t own – share”. Cambio already has a tried and tested vehicle sharing system in operation across Belgium and can tap in to this experience.
• Parking Brussels and BePark are engaged in provision of secure parking facilities where on- street or home infrastructure is not in place for such larger volume bicycles or tricycles, and where theft or vandalism represents a significant  risk.
• Brussels Economy and Employment set up and manage a financial incentive for professional candidates - grant aid for purchase.
• Brussels Environment and the university VUB combine to evaluate and monitor take-up and acceptance of this alternative transport mode, and consequences for pollution exposure of cargo bikers and air quality.  https://environnement.brussels/sites/default/files/user_files/pres_20190423_colloquesortiethermique_icct.pdf

So the project represents a real quadruple helix+ approach bringing together public authorities, private agencies, non-profit sector, research institutes and ultimately the end-user - to work together to trigger a positive change in urban air quality. The role of Brussels Environment and the VUB university to institute crowd-sourcing input to study behaviour patterns and impacts appears to be a valuable recurring phenomenon in cargo bike/air quality projects across Europe – Greifswald University Germany (Interreg CoBiuM project), Cracow University of Technology and CEA Vitoria-Gasteiz (Horizon 2020 City Changer Cargo Bike), University of Helsinki (UIA Hope project).

The project is clearly in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals particularly, 3. Good Health and Well Being and 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities. Coherence with EU policy is also on track when we look at the 5 objectives set out in the urban dimension of cohesion policy for the programme period 2021-2027 which include: A Greener low-carbon Europe – promoting sustainable multi-modal urban mobility goals as part of a transition to a net zero carbon economy, but also; A Europe closer to citizens – to address negative effects of concentration in the urban context (traffic congestion, pollution, urban sprawl, affordable housing, poverty etc.) and implementation through European Urban Initiative mechanisms.  It also draws motivation from guidance and recommendations formulated in the Urban Agenda for the EU Partnerships, Urban Mobility (Promoting Mobility Behaviour Change … minimising car use) and Air Quality (Better Air Quality Planning; Better Focus on the Protection and Improvement of Citizen’s Health - code of good practices for cities air quality action plans). In UIA terms there are clear points of common ground with other projects in the programme, for example the HOPE project using crowd-sourced air quality monitoring, experimenting with a “green paths” clean air route planner tool.

Within Cairgo Bike we have carried out a scoping of what other cities are doing in relation to facilitating cargo bike usage based on a dual self-interrogation precept of “are there things Cairgo Bike can still learn and from whom” and “what/who can or should Cairgo Bike influence in an EU (or even Belgian) perspective”. From this attempt to identify complementary activity and cargo bike good practice in other EU cities it becomes evident that cargo bike encouragement has been and is being sponsored through various programmes at the EU level including Horizon 2020, Interreg, Life, Civitas…

It becomes immediately obvious that the City Changer Cargo Bike project (Horizon 2020) https://cyclelogistics.eu/about has been an important mover and shaker, mobilising partner city and wider examination of cargo bike opportunities, producing extremely valuable information and guidance material. In the grand scheme of things, the Cairgo Bike scoping exercise reveals an interesting set of categories.

1. Cities that have embraced the cargo bike almost spontaneously – where there is a strong cycle tradition and history of mobilisation and acceptance (also probably helpful topography) – so Scandinavia, the low countries etc.
2. Cities which have benefited from strong governance support – i.e. combination of significant national and city funding as in Germany and Austria which has generated clear momentum in cities like Bremen, Rostock, Graz…
3. Cities which have grasped the opportunity provided by EU programmes/projects and initiatives to learn and develop good practice.
4. Cities where spin-offs are developing or taking over from the impulse of administrations or clean air/mobility policies i.e. where civil society or businesses are making their own modal shift decisions based on real business case or well-informed choice – Leuven and Mechelen in Belgium fall into this category.
5. Cities which are still in the dark

The most interesting projects really do have that characteristic of involving City services, cycle organisations/ngo’s, private enterprise and university research institutes with of course civil society. In this sense the Cairgo Bike approach in terms of the players and activities it brings together, fits well with conclusions drawn from city experience as it seeks to push its own unique and complementary intervention package. In this sense the composite architecture of the project can hopefully serve as a baseline, a coordinated action template for other cities with aspirations to promote active travel as antidote to the dangers posed by urban air quality. The activities previewed by Cairgo Bike are eminently transferable with no real logistical or governance impediments to prevent cities building a similar integrated practice approach.

There is something uplifting about watching a group of local people, self employed or employees arriving to try out a cargo bike, follow a training session, take to the road with a project guide and finally leave with a new piece of material to test at home or in the workplace for a two week period. From anticipation and apprehension there is a visible transformation, a sort of confidence “yes I can do this”, there is a value when someone in a later feedback session says,

I could service 6-7 clients  daily using the cargo bike where previously a daily average was 5 using the company van

Initiation sessions have now been organised in a number of Municipalities in the Capital Region including Jette, Koekelberg, Ixelles, City of Brussels, Forest… – companies such as Proximus, the Belgian television stations VRT/RTBF and Vivacqua (the Brussels Water Company) have taken up the offer of trialling the cargo bike for certain tasks. So Cairgo Bike is fully up and running - the website and branding is in place, stickers and plaques are fitted to cargo bikes and trailers, invitations to take part or apply for subsidy are publicised and grants provided, municipalities are mobilised – but this is only the start of a journey for both delivery partners and ultimate beneficiaries. 

Each element of the project architecture is crucial to achieving “a whole which is greater than the sum of the parts”, for example where project survey shows that in Brussels lack of parking facility for cargo bikes is a real limiting factor deterring acquisition. This is expressed even as a constraint by people who already have a cargo bike and therefore demands careful consideration. As the project moves on, data collection and interlocking measures (i.e. resolution of IT systems to allow access to sharing points for trailers or cargo bikes) will attempt to ensure that the creation of a viable, complete ecosystem is established. Conclusions drawn from user experience (what worked, what didn’t) via questionnaires and log books, information from black carbon sensors will feed back into decision making on further roll out and communication. 

A multi-partner, multi-tasking project like Cairgo Bike is always going to encounter unexpected difficulties or real obstacles even despite meticulous planning in advance. Innovation almost implies stretching the boundaries. This demands a resilient and flexible approach particularly in terms of dealing with teething problems. In the case of the questionnaires which cargo bike candidate testers are required to fill in, simple things have had to be overcome. Some individuals/groups failed to complete questionnaires, or logbooks. Others failed to use the black carbon sensors diligently, while handwritten questionnaires, because of the hand writing, were sometimes difficult to read or involved much time to interpret. Project partners need to understand why this is happening even when the majority of users are complying with the guidelines given. This has involved adjustment, some simplification of questioning, favouring of online forms, problem solving to ensure that the noise made by the aethalometers is not too intrusive to make people switch off, plus more hands on explanation and support. In terms of the grant for purchase for professionals a couple of FAQs have been added to the communication channels which are quite instructive:

Can I transport my children in the cargo bike for which I have received a grant from the Brussels Capital Region?

The grant for purchase is intended to support transport of voluminous goods and materials by cargo bike. You may transport your children, only on condition that the main function of the cargo bike remains work related transport of goods and materials.

Are all trades/professions eligible to receive the grant for purchase?

Micro-, small and medium businesses which have at least one active registered workplace unit in Brussels Capital Region may apply for the grant on condition that they can demonstrate the utility of a cargo bike to transport goods and materials in respect of their occupational activities.

This shows that the project needs to keep responding, accordingly, clearly and quasi-continually to legitimate enquiries. It is important to understand that, if unanswered, these uncertainties could hinder take-up and acceptance, or lead to funds perhaps being used for unintended purposes.

While potential parking sites in parking buildings have been identified, negotiation with managers to fix concrete locations and decisions on systems to stall and access cargo bikes (both the hardware and the IT structure) is an active work in progress. This means that the project also has to be aware of the possible impact of variable action time lines in respect of the ambition to achieve essential collective, mutually supporting solutions.

These few examples are not in any sense a threat to project success but reaction and willingness to adapt is a key element in optimising project delivery and fulfilling objectives.