Last month, the municipality of Groningen asked students to help them think about successful applications of the cargo bike in the city center of the future. The stores in the city center of Groningen must be stocked without emissions from 2025 on. In other words, no more polluting vans or trucks, but sustainable electric vehicles such as cargo bikes. How do we ensure that the cargo bike is used successfully in the city center of the future?
No fewer than 11 student teams from MBO (post-secondary vocational education), HBO (higher vocational education) and WO (university) courses competed with each other in the Cargobikathon. During the Cargobikathon, the teams came up with creative solutions to current cases about the role of the cargo bike in the logistics transport of the city center. The cases were submitted by cargo bike providers, delivery platforms and the municipality of Groningen.
Koers Noord, consisting of students of the University of Groningen, came up with the winning solution. They devised an approach to make the cargo bike available to everyone in the city center. Their research showed that residents of the city would like to use the cargo bike occasionally to transport large or heavy items. The vast majority of hospitality and retail entrepreneurs in the inner city would like to use the cargo bike for the supply and delivery of their products. Based on an environmental analysis, the student team determined suitable locations for so-called Mobihubs and Mobiparks for the storage of the cargo bikes. Check out their winning contribution at the bottom of this page (audio in Dutch). About their participation in the Cargobikathon, the students of Koers Noord say: “It was informative and fun to use our knowledge and ideas for our city, our Groningen!“
Ilse Mensink, program manager Hive.Mobility, was a member of the jury of the Cargobikathon. She explains: “In a short time all students came up with great solutions that all contribute to a sustainable city. The jury was unanimous with regard to the winner. It is a strong concept and well developed in a short period of time. Immediately applicable. ‘Delivery in the city of tomorrow’ as Koers Noord puts it, is very strong in their contribution. As a jury, we hope that the devised solution will be further elaborated and shown in the city soon.“
The municipality of Groningen looks back on a successful hackathon. Together with Mobian and the winning team Koers Noord, they are now discussing how a pilot with a shared cargo bike for businesses and residents in the city center of Groningen can be started. The parties are jointly looking at the realization of a platform on which the shared cargo bike can be placed. In this way, a car parking space is exchanged for a sustainable initiative of transport.
