With E-Cargo Bikes to the Front Door
The idea of using streetcars to transport more than just people is not entirely new. Streetcars were already transporting mail in the 19th century. And after the Second World War, the vegetable streetcar ran through Frankfurt to supply the population with food.
Now, as part of a joint research project with Frankfurt UAS and VGF, it is the shipping giant Amazon that used the streetcar for four weeks to deliver goods of all kinds to customers. E-transporters were used to deliver the parcels to the goods streetcar. Electric cargo bikes picked them up at two stops in the city center of Frankfurt and then drove them to the front doors of Amazon customers.
“Everyone likes to order,” said Hesse's Economics Minister Kaweh Mansoori (SPD) at the presentation of the initial project results. However, as transport space in cities is limited, it was “a question of quality of life, which drive technologies we use to get around”. The successful project was a decisive step for the future of urban logistics in Hesse, said the Minister. The state of Hesse has been funding the project with a total of half a million euros since 2018. Frankfurt City Councillor Wolfgang Siefert (Greens) also explained: “Online trade is a key driver of freight transport. With the Gütertram, we are offering an innovative approach to partially replace parcel services and thus protect the environment.”
There's More to it
During the project, an average of 4.8 cargo bike tours with an average of 67 parcels were delivered - due to its pilot status, the streetcar was always loaded with minimum capacity. The parcels were transported over a distance of 22.4 kilometers per tour. The standing time of the streetcar was changed during the practical test because the transfer to the cargo bikes was 5 minutes faster in practice than the calculated 10 to 15 minutes, reported project manager Benjamin Federmann. The transport is always accompanied by two people who were also responsible for reloading. There was also the streetcar driver.
