‘Roll-estate’, a new concept that seeks to utilize retail space along bicycle routes to further encourage and facilitate cycling, premiered in the Netherlands during Velo-city week in June 2017.

Developed by CycleSpace and CHIPS partners, the roll-estate is intended to meet the need of services for cyclists travelling between cities. As the bicycle is used for longer-distance travel, and as bicycle routes are further separated from motorized roads, a ‘service station for cyclists’ is increasingly becoming a necessity.

Moving beyond existing services confined to bicycle repairs, roll-estate explores how to better service the cyclist. The pilot was deployed as a shipping container, including an awning to protect cyclists from sun or rain. Stocked with essentials, such as food, drinks and everyday grocery items, the pilot included cycling parts and tools for basic maintenance services.

Frank Eggen, Advisor with the Province of Gelderland: “As the bicycle will have a full role in future interurban networks, we need new concepts to accelerate its position in urban mobility. The province of Gelderland initiates and supports these projects and programs, like CHIPS and Bike to work.nl.”

Lee Feldman, co-founder of CycleSpace, said: “We already know that so many businesses benefit from being on or near a bicycle path because of the passing trade or extra visibility the path gives them. We are taking this idea further, to actually create new commercial experiences alongside cycle paths that quickly and easily provide what cyclists most need. We call this roll-estate and it has the potential to transform how many people around the world feel about cycling. Where drivers can stop for a sandwich or take a pit stop, those facilities are not yet designed around cyclists, and yet cyclists make up a huge proportion of how people travel, and providing the right services for cyclists could increase that even further.”

The pilot roll-estate programme saw a full service station set up along the cycle path (Rijnwaalpad) between Arnhem and Nijmegen, the two host cities of this year’s Velo-city. The pilot was open for two weeks during Velo-city to benefit from the huge numbers of international cyclists who were able to test, feedback and help refine the concept. The CHIPS team was the first to use the new innovation!

CycleSpace will develop further pilots in different forms, shapes and delivery models along key bicycle routes in the Netherlands, before rolling out the ideas for roll-estate around the world.

[Original Article]