Load and behold: should you opt for an electric cargo bike over a second car? | Transport
OhOn a trip to Vienna, we saw parents cruising the city’s cycle paths on electric cargo bikes, loaded with bags, groceries and children happily chatting with each other in the front or back seats.
This prompted us to buy one, but when it arrived I felt intimidated by its size and how we would be navigating the streets of the Australian city we live in, especially during rush hour.
After my initial apprehension, I was surprised at how quickly our car trips turned into bike rides. Like learning to drive, it took a while to learn how to ride the bike, but it quickly became our go-to vehicle for short trips. Foregoing a second car may have been the reason we bought it, but it was just more fun to see my son smiling on the bike.
Can we make our streets safer so more people are willing to try cargo e-bikes? Can they make a difference in reducing transport emissions, and what should you consider if you’re considering getting one? I spoke to a few early adopters to find out.
Replace short car trips
Driving less is one of the main reasons people switch to e-bikes, whether to save money, reduce emissions or get more exercise. But add kids to the mix, or hobbies, work and errands, and things get more complicated.
Electric cargo bikes, with storage or multiple seats in the front or back, are designed to move objects and are ideal for short trips between 2 and 6 km, says Elliot Fishman of the Institute for Sensible Transport. In many central urban areas, e-bikes “will be the quickest way to get from point A to point B” over those distances, he says.
Choosing to cycle rather than drive saves 300g of CO2/km, which is a substantial amount for a household if you cycle two or three times most days – especially considering how often people cycle short distances, Fishman says.
Sydneysiders make around 4 million car journeys of less than 4km every day. In regional cities like Orange, Grafton, Wollongong or Albury, the proportion of daily car trips of less than 6km is even higher than in capital cities, says Fishman.
With transport representing Australia’s fastest growing source of carbon emissions, electric cargo bikes have a niche but important role to play.
Find your route
If you’re unsure whether a cargo e-bike is right for you, Fishman suggests looking at the type of trips you take each week and determining how many are in that 1.5-4 mile range. Next, map out routes that you can safely travel.
Look for smaller side streets, cycle the route or use Google Street View, he says.
Jon Lindley, a Wollongong cycling advocate and my former neighbor, suggests building confidence by starting with short trips on weekends, when there is no time pressure and less traffic.
Check if places have somewhere you can park and lock your bike – before you go there with a toddler. You’ll also need a safe place to store the bike at home, where you can easily take it in and out.
Try before you buy
There are e-bike discounts in some states, but they can be expensive, so you’ll want to find the one that’s right for you. Front loaders, long tails, box bikes – each serves a different purpose.
Bikes that carry loads up front are great for transporting young children, Fishman says, because the rider can more easily see and talk to their little passengers. Older children ride well in the back.
Manufacturers like Lug+Carrie offer low-cost rentals, which Fishman says is a good way to test out how a cargo e-bike fits into your life. He says many people end up buying or renting a cargo e-bike after trying it.
If these programs aren’t available to you, Fishman suggests asking a bike shop if you can test ride a bike for at least half an hour to take it for a spin up hills or turn at low speeds.
Making the streets safer
Fear of riding in traffic next to cars is “the biggest reason people don’t ride bikes”, says Fishman, who has used an electric cargo bike to transport his children around Melbourne on carefully chosen routes since 2012.
Despite their longer-than-usual dimensions and wider turning radii, electric cargo bikes are quite easy to maneuver thanks to pedal assist, he says.
Using modal filters (barriers that prevent certain vehicles from passing) to create bike-friendly corridors is the cheapest, quickest and easiest way for a city to make cycling safer, Fishman says. Placing modal filters on strategically chosen routes, such as Canning Street in Melbourne’s north or via Redfern in Sydney, slows and reduces through traffic and encourages people who are uncomfortable on busy roads to travel by bike.
Directing cyclists to certain streets also concentrates riders along those routes, and research suggests that increasing the number of cyclists improves cyclist safety.
Lindley says reducing speed limits to 30km/h is the fairest way to make streets safer for all road users.
Reducing speed limits significantly reduces the risk and impact of accidents, particularly fatalities, and contrary to most drivers’ expectations, has virtually no impact on car journey times and improves traffic flow.
Lindley has been transporting his three children on an electric cargo bike for more than 10 years, but says he never stopped feeling vulnerable on a bike.
“That was the biggest psychological hurdle for me,” Lindley says of riding with her children. But his reasons for buying an electric cargo bike were strong motivation: it was cheaper, more environmentally friendly and, most importantly, it meant he could continue riding with his children and help them develop healthy habits.
“You see the joy that the children get from it, the time you spend with them… [and] this encourages you to use it more.
