Our public meeting on 2 September – which attracted at least 6 cargobikes, inside and out, in addition to the audience! – was an inspiring demonstration of the enthusiasm and effort which is bringing cargobike opportunities to the Edinburgh public. Several cargobike hubs/libraries are already operational, lending to local residents, and The Bike Station hopes to establish 2 new hubs in 2026/27 and create a shared maintenance service for all hubs.
Four groups shared details of their own work [further notes on this, and a video, are linked under ‘More Info’ at the end of this article] …
Banzai, Bruntsfield Area NetZero Action Initiative (Carol speaking), was created in response to the climate crisis. Their most successful initiative so far has been a 2 cargobike library, with some 75 different borrowers so far.
Porty Community Energy (Jennifer and Poppy speaking), also created to reduce our pressure on the planet, has been running their bike/cargobike library for 3 years, and in addition to general-public loans has run projects including, this year, geared to carers.
Cycling Gardeners of Edinburgh (Callum speaking) are a garden-maintenance company, now with 6 cargobikes, who find a ready market in the city centre where van-based gardening companies are reluctant to take on jobs. Incidentally, Spokes has assisted CGoE with bike purchase through our cargo-bike support scheme for community groups and micro-businesses.
The Bike Station (Ian speaking from Sasha’s notes) is now the custodian of former Cargo Bike Movement, and now has 15 cargobikes out on monthly loans to families. As mentioned above, they hope to expand and support the growing cargobike-hub initiatives across the city.
The meeting began with a showing of the film Motherload, a fantastic celebration of the role of bikes, and cargobikes, in fostering social change – from the historic role of bikes in the emancipation of women to modern day kiddical masses, and from african subsistence living to car-dominated western society. The crowd-funded film was envisioned by, and features, a mum in the USA, Liz Canning, for whom, and for whose children, the discovery of cargobikes made a world of difference.
After the film and speakers came a 30-minute QA
Topics covered included…
- Importance of community initiatives, can be more flexible/ experimental/ speedy than Council schemes
- But need more Council involvement, supporting hubs, using cargobikes & promoting their use, and finding supportive councillors
- Concern re the pressures on food delivery cyclists, resulting in speeding and use of non-legal fast ‘e-motorbikes’
- Value of bike libraries in letting people try out different types & see what works for them
- Context – think of cargobike as a cheap car replacement rather than as an expensive bike
- Importance of reducing traffic to make conditions more amenable for walking, cycling & transport by cargobike
Barriers to expanding cargobike (CB) use in Edinburgh
Part of the aim of the meeting was to identify barriers to wider CB adoption, so we can seek solutions. Barriers that were noted included…
- Insurance for CB-based groups and businesses. Insurance companies are not used to this, and thus reluctant to offer insurance [Cycling Gardeners & Porty Bike Hub had to spend much time arranging insurance]
- Home storage space (e.g. in tenements) limits CB ownership and highlights the value of CB libraries
- Motornormativity – unconscious cognitive bias which assumes made that motor car ownership and use is how life works .. so people wouldn’t normally see CB as an option. Ben of edi.bike suggests countering this by presenting CB as a cheap car replacement rather than as an expensive bike replacement
- Costs – for many people (including all those who can’t afford a car in the first place) CBs are expensive. Bike libraries can be a great solution, and a solution for some is that CBs are (always?) covered by employer bike-to-work schemes
- Abuse – some people (particulary women) have experienced abuse from passing car occupants who presumably don’t like challenges to the norm
- Bike infrastructure – bike lane design is often poor for cargobikes, both on dedicated and shared paths, given the width of many CBs
- Opportunity – Lack of opportunity to try out a CB, especially with support and instruction
- Motor vehicle road domination – failure by councils to restrict city centre cars & vans makes life more difficult – and dangerous – for cycling, wheeling and walking of all kinds – including deliveries by cargobike.
More info
- Video of the speakers and QA [due to licensing, our video does not include the Motherload film]
- Meeting notes by Emma
- Banzai speaker notes
- Banzai slides
- Bike Station speaker notes
- Spokes Cargobike web page – we give grants for community groups and microbusinesses towards buying a cargobike
- Spokes preview article for the meeting
- Pre-meeting press release
- Motherload film, website
- Bluesky post of this article – please repost!
