The use of bicycles and tricycles to deliver goods and services is fast-growing and it is becoming a trend in Europe and the U.S., generally due to environmental issues and often with the support of public policies.However, in Rio de Janeiro and in Brazil the delivery of goods by cargo bike is an old practice: thousands of deliveries are carried out on a daily base without public incentives or consumer preferences for environmentally sound policies. This happens for a simple matter of efficiency, especially in densely populated neighborhoods and concerning the so-called last mile logistics. 

In 2011 a survey was conducted in the neighborhood of Copacabana (Rio) to identify the volume of deliveries made by bikes. This research provided surprising data. It appears clearly that this kind of delivery has a positive impact on the environment, the traffic and, more in general, the city. The research has been rewarded with the Cycling Visionary Award in Vienna during the Velo-city conference 2013.

In 2015, a new research was conducted in nine different Rio’s neighborhoods; the main aim this time was to study how this kind of service behaves in neighborhoods with different characteristics. The study found that the districts with the most intensive use of cargo bikes, Zona Sul, Centro and Grande Tijuca, are not the same ones that present the most massive use of bikes as a mode of transport, which are the neighborhoods of the West Zone (data from PDTU 2004).

Read more at Transporte Ativo webpage http://transporteativo.org.br/ta/?page_id=10300

Text: Transporte Ativo (Gabriela Binatti)