Implementation period: 01.09.2020 – 31.08.2022

Programme: Erasmus +, Key Action “Cooperation among organisations and institutions”

Project Leader: Accentuate (North East) Limited, United Kingdom

Project Partners:

bit Schulungscenter GmbH, Austria

N.E.T. Associazione Culturale, Italy

SystServ, Greece

BATTI, Bulgaria

SGS Technos SA, Spain

SC CRCE srl, Romania

CABIT - E-Cargo Bike Riders Initial Training

Most freight in cities is currently moved over short distances by trucks and vans using fossil fuels, primarily diesel. A movement is currently growing to replace these types of haulage with electrically powered cargo vehicles based on bicycles, but with a much greater capacity than a traditional bicycle courier: the 'e-cargo bike' , with an electric motor to assist the rider, has no harmful emissions and is quieter than freight carrying vans, and if widely adopted in cities will make a significant contribution to air quality and reduce noise pollution.

The context of this project is therefore to support moves to transfer as much as possible of the freight/goods being moved within the urban environment in Europe, from diesel and petrol vehicles to electrically powered cargo bikes. To achieve this, the project aims to help support any municipality, business or social enterprise which uses or intends to use an e-cargo bike to deliver its operations or services.

In every country of the project partnership, and more widely across Europe, companies are adopting e-cargo bikes for sustainable short distance freight logistics. However, this is being done in a piecemeal manner, and there are no overall agreed standards for operators, even within individual countries. Having consulted widely within the sector, it has become apparent that one of the most important areas that needs to be addressed is the competence of e-cargo bike riders, who are required to pilot quite large and sometimes  heavy loads through busy city streets. Riders are not currently required to have any kind of driving licence, whether for a motor cycle or other vehicle, in order to operate e-cargo bikes, and any basic training they receive is particular to the company or enterprise that employs them.

The project therefore targets in the broader sense companies and municipalities using or planning to use e-cargo bikes for short distance delivery and logistics, and the training programme to be developed is targeted specifically at e-cargo bike riders, to enable them to ride, operate their vehicles, and carry out required tasks in a safe, skilled and competent manner.