If you thought the 2CV cargo bike was a big beast then it's got nothing on this: Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn are trialling a new cargo bike to take the place of van deliveries in city centres.
The bike in question is a converted Urban Arrow cargo bike. Urban Arrow use a modular build so you can change the front end of the bike depending on your needs, and the Albert Heijn trike replaces the usual choices – one-wheeled child seat or cargo space – with a two-wheel delivery unit that can handle up to 30 crates of shopping. Urban Arrow bikes use a Bosch mid motor and this build is no exception; it's not going to be especially quick but it's easy to get around Amsterdam which has fewer through-routes for cars, and you don't need a driving licence to pilot the bike either.
The delivery bike loads up with crates from a distribution point on the outskirts, and can make door-to-door grocery deliveries more easily and quickly once it's in the city centre. There's even a roof to keep the rain off the driver.
It's no doubt an approach that works much better when there's dedicated cycling infrastructure; use the delivery bike extensively on the road and the slow speed would probably mean you'd incur the wrath of drivers, especially over here in the UK. But we've seen DHL switching to Bullitt cargo bikes in London, and it's a trend that we'd expect to continue as more and more companies look for solutions to avoid the jams.
