All Aboard the E-Cargo Bike

By Alison Holland

Published: January 29, 2025

Brightwayz team, Lottery project.

Have you tried a ride on an e-cargo bike? Have you even seen one? If you’ve been to Holland or even Cambridge you have probably noticed parents cycling their children, shopping or even their dogs around in one of these gondola type cycles.

 

If, as a society, we want to make it easy and practical for more people to cycle for everyday journeys we need to also make it easy for them to carry all their ‘stuff’ along with them too. Women in particular tend to make journeys ‘encumbered’ - technical word for having lots of stuff to carry or people with them they are taking care of. So could e-cargo bikes be a solution?

Amsterdam lady on a cargo bike, with other cyclists next to a canal

 

There’s only one way to find out and that is to have a go. Here at Brightwayz we are lucky to have a local housing developer - Hanwood Park - who agree that promoting green travel options for all  is important. They have purchased an e-cargo bike for local community partners such as us to borrow and help share this travel possibility with as many people as we can.

Earlier this year we funded some ‘e-cargo bike training’ for a group of local community leaders so they could learn how to ride, store, maintain and manage this new mode of transport. Our training day was hosted at the lovely Wicksteed Park and led by Kylie from Ridewise.

Ecargo bike at Kettfest.

 

Since then our team have borrowed the bike for numerous events and have given hundreds of rides to children and adults. 

The summer highlight of the year in our local town - Kettering - is ‘Kettfest’. So we decorated the bike for the occasion and gave rides through the town centre celebrations. Local reporter, Alison Bagley, gained a prime spot for recording a video in the life at street level by cadging a ride with us.

Alison Bagley in ecargo bike Kettfest.

 

Cargo bikes are for all year round - they often come with rain covers to protect passengers and luggage from the elements when needed. When Santa pedalled it around to give children rides for our town's Christmas lights switch on event we luckily had good weather!

What we love best is when we hear people say… ‘I could do with one of those for the school run’.  You never know - we might find they become the new thing at the school gates and beyond!

Santa in a cargo bike, with a child, both waving

Here at Brightwayz social enterprise we love to provide information and tips to help you, your colleagues, friends and family travel in safe, active, sustainable ways for everyday journeys.

Our unique range of products is here to help support your active travel campaigns and 100% of profits from sales is ploughed back to support the work we do. Take a look at our range here and find something to help you inspire others to travel in good ways.

Latest from our News and Blogs