Evaluation of barriers to the adoption of cargo bikes for package delivery-case study of Finland
Loading...
URL
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu |
Master's thesis
Unless otherwise stated, all rights belong to the author. You may download, display and print this publication for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Authors
Date
2023-10-09
Department
Major/Subject
Sustainable Urban Mobility Transitions
Mcode
ENG3085
Degree programme
Master’s programme in Urban Mobility
Language
en
Pages
63+7
Series
Abstract
The logistics sector contributes significantly to the emission levels accounted for in road transport. The use of cargo bikes as a means of delivery for courier companies has progressively gained attention in the last few years in Europe, as a sustainable means of inner-city courier deliveries. Finland has been relatively slower in its adoption, and presently cargo bikes are not being utilized for parcel deliveries. This study aims to provide insight into the barriers for cargo bike usage for parcel delivery in Finland. It aims to identify barriers peculiar to Finland, as well as highlight barriers from past research as relevant to Finland. The methodological approach draws from the multi-level perspective in mobility transitions. In order to understand the systemic characteristics, expert interviews are conducted with multiple actors from the public and private sectors. Using qualitative content analysis methods iteratively, it is found that the major barriers are linked to the prevalent automobility culture in Finland. Identified factors include a lack of awareness of the utility and technology of cargo bikes, inadequacy of winter maintenance on cycling paths, and the lack of cargo bike considerations in city planning. The relatively small market size of Finland is also identified as a limiting factor in the execution of cargo bike trials which could scale up to adoption. Further studies are suggested on the impact of awareness campaigns and advertising, on increasing the cargo bike niche.Description
Supervisor
Mladenovic, MilosThesis advisor
Koistinen, MattiKeywords
cargo bikes, cycle logistics, multi-level perspective, parcel delivery, logistics