November 7, 2022 — Urban Freight Lab researchers Giacomo Dalla Chiara, Griffin Donnelly, Şeyma Güneş, and Anne Goodchild have published the first-of-a-kind detailed profile of a cargo cycle driver’s parking and driving behaviors in a new article — “How Cargo Cycle Drivers Use the Urban Transport Infrastructure” — in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice.
Researchers observed that bikes are as fast as ICE vehicles in navigating the urban space and spent virtually no time cruising for parking. The study found cargo bike drivers to have a strong preference for sidewalk use: 37% of driving time was on the sidewalk (usage increased when traveling downhill, against the traffic flow, and when the driver needed to park on the sidewalk), 55% in the travel lane, and only 5% in the bike lane (usage increased when the bike lane was protected). Parking duration was short (about four minutes); the distance to the delivery address was short (under 100 feet), and drivers usually made one delivery per stop.
Researchers identified design modifications that would incentivize bike couriers to drive more in the travel and bicycle lanes and less on the sidewalk:
- Building additional bike lanes
- Building protective bike lanes on roads with more public transit traffic
- Connecting bike lane networks
- Creating bike lanes that are accessible from the sidewalk (establishing mid-block access or at the same height as the sidewalk rather than the travel lanes)
- Dedicating curb or sidewalk space for cargo bikes (could be shared with other micromobility vehicles)
- Reducing use of the curb for long-term parking
Results from this study can be used by cities to prepare and plan for more safe and efficient cargo bike deliveries.
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About the Urban Freight Lab (UFL): The Urban Freight Lab is a structured partnership of academic researchers, public sector agencies, and private sector firms — shippers, retailers, tech providers, property owners, and manufacturers — working collaboratively to identify complex urban freight management problems and design solutions to make industry more efficient and cities more sustainable and livable.