Brighton and Hove Council Communities, Equality and Third-Sector Team

When the pandemic first hit the UK, the Communities, Equality & Third-Sector team was charged with helping to ensure food supply to the most vulnerable residents in the community by setting up a weekly food delivery service. The activities covered by the team included helping to engage people who live and work across the city and coordinate neighbourhood support.

Due to the project being city-wide, the team needed quick and effective means of transport that could tackle the narrow streets and traffic restricted areas of the city centre. A zero-emission cargo bike seemed to be the obvious solution and the ecargo Bike Accelerator Project team with funds and advice from the Department for Transport and Energy Saving Trust helped them to identify a suitable bike.

Taking into consideration the advice, the ecargo bike chosen was the RIESE & MULLER: PACKSTER bike, which included the following features:

• Rear back to increase carrying capacity
• Removable tarpaulin to keep produce dry
• Front suspension to keep ride smooth
• Dual battery option to extend range to cover the team’s longest rides

The team say, “The flexibility of our ecargo bike to reach our city centre residents and deliver fresh food throughout the pandemic has added so much to our service”.

It has been up and running for a year now and has supported deliveries on a weekly basis:

• With an ecargo bike, they can deliver to the door, without wasting time looking for parking or carrying packages long distance
• In central Brighton, it is an advantage to use the cycle lanes
• ecargo bikes reduce air pollution

Since implementing the scheme and using the ecargo bikes for regular services, there has been a lot of interest from the community and resident groups across the city.