Source: eltis.org

The CycleLogistics project is offering sub-contracts to organizations who promote the project. The goal is to reduce energy used in urban freight transport by replacing unnecessary motorised vehicles with bikes and cargo bikes. 

There is over 25,000 euros available for organizations who can promote the CycleLogistics project in their region or country. “We have 20,000€ for promotion in “Bulgaria, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Spain” said Randy Rzewnicki, ECF’s project manager for CycleLogistics. But, we welcome bids from other EU countries.” There is another 5000€ for Shop by Bike campaigns. “We’d like to see them in high profile cities like Brussels & Berlin, but we’re happy to hear from other cities.”

The project promotes moving goods by cycle, instead of motor vehicles.

“It covers the whole range of possibilities”, explained the project manager, “from private logistics, like doing your shopping with a bicycle, through businesses that can use bikes for delivery and logistics. But it also focuses on what towns and cities can do to get more people moving things by bike, and replace cars, vans and trucks that are not always needed for these trips,” concluded Rzewnicki.

“What we seek now is help promoting the concept in several EU countries. And running a few Bike to Shop campaigns (see below).  The main promotion activities are the following:

1. Present CycleLogistics and cargo bike topics at your organization’s own events.
2. Disseminate CycleLogistics content and outcome to your organization’s contacts & other stakeholders in your organization’s regional & national network.
3. Use your organization’s communication tools (newsletters, webpage, magazines, conferences and events) and local/regional/national media contacts to promote cargo cycling (ie all forms of moving goods by cycle).
4. Be the contact point for persons interested in CycleLogistics in your country or region.
5. Do translations into your national language (as needed).

Important information:

1. The project end date is 2 May 2014 – therefore this work needs to be completed and reported before the end of April in order to qualify for payment.
2. The funds available ranges from 500  to 2500€ , depending on the amount of services and contacts with members and stakeholders that your organization can supply.
3. Final deadline for bid submission is 7 AUGUST. Info & feedback possible until Wednesday 3 July and on 5-6 August. Early bids are welcome.

More information here: CYCLElogistics Subcontract and in the FAQ from the project manager, R Rzewnicki.

There are many different ways to promote “Shop by Bike”. The common point for a CycleLogistics Shop by Bike campaign is that people commit to doing most of their shopping by bicycle instead of with a car for at least one month. At the end, they report on their experience. The focus is on people who usually drive a car. The purpose is to learn about their experience when they do most of their shopping, especially shopping for food, by bike.

The “Shop by Bike” campaign consists of a test use programme of 1-2 months where citizens try to do their shopping without a car and mainly by bike, using bicycle baskets, bike bags and/or bicycle trailers.

Across the EU, over 3000 persons will take part in these actions. It is expected that a share of the test users will change their mobility behaviour permanently because often a new thing just needs to be tried and tested to become aware of the advantages. The goal of the campaign is that after this programme around 33% of the participants will change their behaviour and continue to use the bicycle, instead of the car, for around 50% of their shopping trips.

One example of a successful programme comes from Graz, Austria, where the project leader FGM-AMOR developed a “Bike & Buy” scheme. They cooperated with the city government & a supermarket chain. The local government co-funded different gifts of cycle equipment to welcome participants to the project. The gifts were cycle baskets or kick-stands or a gift certificate to purchase another cycle accessory. At the end of the month-long campaign, the participants who completed the survey received a gift certificate to the supermarket that co-sponsored the campaign. 

• Final deadline for bid submission is 7 AUGUST. Info & feedback possible until Wednesday 3 July and on 5-6 August. Early bids are welcome.

More information here: Shop by Bike Campaign , and in the FAQ – and from the project manager, R Rzewnicki.

Reference Information for Bike to Shop:

• Auswertung der Bike By Kampagnen
• Bike and Buy- German Version
• Birmingham Shop by Bike
• Case Study Bike Buy
• CTC evaluation Shop by bike
• D3-6 Campaign Scheme Shop By Bike CTC
• Facts About Shopping Without Car

CycleLogistics is an Intelligent Energy project co-funded by the European Commission. 

About the Author

Randy Rzewnicki has a wealth of experience in the world of Cycling having previously worked with Fietsersbond Brussels (Brussel’s cyclist Union) and a range of other EU funded Projects such as Life-Cycle. He is currently co-managing the Cycle Logistics Project, which is pushing for behavioral change by informing people how to use their bicycle to transport goods usually moved by cars.