Monday 3 April 2023

‘Cargo bike deliveries would save the taxpayer £4bn’

If delivery companies made the switch from diesel vans to cargo bikes, it would save the taxpayer £4.2 billion and heavily reduce traffic and air pollution.

That’s according to Pedal and Post, an Oxford-based low carbon courier company, which conducted research into what would happen if the remainder of the industry followed suit.

In its home city of Oxford alone, a switch to cargo bikes would save the taxpayer £14 million – the business revealed.

Zero-emission deliveries would save both money and people’s health, the report revealed, referencing findings by the Department for Transport, claiming that 33% of all urban deliveries could be done by cargo bikes.

It’s estimated by CBI Economics that 17,000 premature deaths by respiratory illnesses would be prevented and three million working days lost to sickness would be regained if the UK achieved the World Health Organisation’s guidelines for air pollution.

Chris Benton, the CEO of Pedal and Post, said: “The potential to clean up our air and grow the UK economy is huge. Pollution from diesel van deliveries costs the NHS nearly £25,000 across the lifetime of the van, compared to around £150 for an electric cargo bike.

“We also know that cargo bikes can deliver more parcels per hour than the average van and produce 92% less greenhouse gas emissions per delivery, so it really is a no brainer to make the switch.”