The 100 year old practice of bikes delivering groceries to you doorstep is making a comeback in the United Kingdom.
More than 100 years ago London grocer Sainsbury used delivery boys on bikes to get food to families.
Now the firm is a supermarket giant, providing the essentials of life to millions, and looking for ways to make home delivery work in a congested city.
It might have found the answer in its past.
The company is running a trial of electric assist cargo bikes from its store in Streatham, South London.
The fleet of five bikes can deliver 100 orders a day. They have a large box on the front for standard items and behind the rider is a smaller box for chilled produce.
The bikes deliver to addresses within a five kilometre range of the store.
In dense and congested urban areas, the bikes can slip through heavy traffic and get to destinations quicker than large vans and trucks. And then they can park at the doorstep.
The data from the trial shows that an e-cargo bike can deliver about the same amount in an eight hour shift as a van.
Furthermore, with London’s air quality plunging to harmful levels on a regular basis, the move is on to phase out internal combustion delivery vehicles, especially diesels.
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