Cycle-based transport services in Kenya

by Robert Bartlett of Schorrell Analysis

The document was written by Naboth Juma Okoth, chairman of the Ngware Bicycle Transporters Youth Group, and edited by Mr. Bartlett. The new, extended version has 18 pages, 9 figures - mainly photographs - and includes notes on the technology used, the stakeholders, the service provided etc. There is a cover price of EUR 5.00, all of which will be sent to the Group. If anyone is interested in a copy (pdf), email: roadnotes@freenet.de.

The dimensions of workbikes

by Robert Bartlett of Schorrell Analysis

2-wheeled bicycles are not representative of the wide range of 3-wheeled and 4-wheeled (and more) cycles which are in use on the roads of Britain, Holland and Germany today (let alone the types in use in developing countries)
Moreover, modern bicycles can have dual-power systems (e.g. human-and electrical-power). Besides details for 68 different models of modern cycles this new version of the document looks at classification, design dimensions and uncertainty and comfort zones.

Workbikes: a modern solution to congestion and pollution

by Tessa Thomas

Article published in The Sustainable Enterprise

View the whole article

Electric and improved cycle rickshaw as a sustainable transport system for India

by Anil K. Rajvanshi of Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI),

Abstract
Most cities in India have very high air and noise pollution caused by transport vehicles especially petrol/diesel-powered three-wheelers. An improved and electric cycle rickshaw can provide a nonpolluting and very silent transport system for urban and rural areas of India. It can also provide largescale employment to millions of urban and rural poor. NARI has therefore developed two types of rickshaws; a) Improved pedal cycle rickshaw (IMPRA) and b) Motor assisted pedal rickshaw (MAPRA). The details of these rickshaws are given in this paper. It is shown that these rickshaws can provide a safe, environmentally friendly, energy efficient and cost-effective transport system in cities and towns of India. Commercialization, technology, social and policy issues are discussed for large-scale introduction of these rickshaws.

Download the whole document in .pdf format

Assessing the Viability of Sustainable Freight Distribution in Urban Areas Using Work Bikes

Research project by David Rodgers.

Abstract
The use of work bikes is a classic case of a solution to urban congestion and pollution problems being hampered by several limiting factors. A thorough review of the literature and specialist research resources surrounding work bikes use has been able to highlight the cultural and general spatial limitations to work bike use. A review of the government policies surrounding sustainable transport, distribution and land use practices has shown that the current government stance is simply to ensure that current resource stocks, such as vans and lorries, are used more efficiently. This approach does not give the chance for a switch to new, more sustainable, transportation resources such as work bikes to be developed with much needed official backing.
Work carried out with the assistance of courier companies, operating both vans and work bikes, has shown that operational limitations exist with the use of work bikes, and these limit the scope of profitable, and thus financially sustainable, operation of such vehicles. Only certain types of customer base can benefit from the services offered by a courier firm running work bikes. Delivery runs need to be tightly scheduled and the customers should ideally be relatively densely located within a compact geographical area. Whilst this sounds like an almost utopian set of circumstances it is vital to remember that within many town and city centres these are exactly the market conditions faced by van operating courier firms.
This is by no means a complete study of work bikes but should give an insight into which areas need to be addressed by a more formal quantitative study and the wide range of factors helping, or hindering those companies wishing to operate these zero emissions vehicles.

Download the whole document in .pdf format

The Soul of a Pedicab Chauffeur

www.sheldonbrown.com/pedicab.html

1998 Freight Bike World Championship

Freight bikes and riders versus a 100 kg load and some extreme hills on the Eastway racetrack in London. The aim: to see how the many different designs of workbike cope under the same pressure.

www.mondodesigno.com/freightbikes.html

Reducing Travel for Shopping

Dr Sally Cairns has carried out a number of studies of travel for shopping, including an assessment of the transport impacts of different store locations; an analysis of 12 policy areas needed to reduce shopping trips by car; an overview of 58 schemes currently offering home delivery of food shopping; and an assessment of the transport impacts of the growth in home shopping and home delivery. Her work recognises the need for more environmentally sustainable delivery systems, including the role for workbikes, although it does not discuss the role of workbikes in detail.

Farmers' Markets in China

Farmers in China use workbikes to transport their produce to market. This site details the designs used in different provinces, from adapted two-wheelers to purpose-built vehicles.

www.saturdaymarket.com/chinaveg/chap5p1.htm

1999 Velomobile Seminar 'Assisted Human Powered Vehicles'

Why not only pure but also assisted Human Power? A seminar dedicated to power-assisted vehicles, with speakers and demonstration vehicles from all over the world, including the Green Heart Micro Cab, an electric-assist pedicab.

www.workbike.org/research/assistedhpv.html

Non-motorized transport and sustainable development - Evidence from Calcutta

A report on recent field work in Calcutta by John Whitelegg, in which he interviewed rickshaw pullers/pedallers throughout the city and put together a summary of miles travelled, passengers carried, income, living conditions and hours worked. Part of a longer term project on the definition and implementation of sustainable transport principles in this city.

www.workbike.org/research/calcutta.html

Taj Mahal Cycle Taxi Improvement Project

Dr. Walter Hook, Executive Director at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy writes on a project to develop a superior pedicab for the Indian market. The motor-traffic exclusion zone around the Taj Mahal has created an opportunity for this new workbike.

www.workbike.org/research/tajmahal.html

Women on the Move in Uganda

Kisamadu Richard, Project Coordinator at the First African Bicycle Information Office, explains how workbikes can improve the lives of women and allow them to contribute to economic development in Uganda.

www.workbike.org/research/womenmove.html

Tricycle Wheelchairs for Sri Lanka

Tricycle wheelchairs, which are three wheeled and propelled by hand using a cycle drive unit connected to the front or to one side wheel, are widely used by the disabled community of Sri Lanka. Many users adapt them to become a mobile place of work and income generation, for example, selling lottery tickets, newspapers or trinkets.

www.workbike.org/research/wheelchair.html

PedalLine, a new VeloTaxi concept

The PedalLine concept is a recent approach to establish semi-public transport on a collective human-power basis. PedalLine could offer a wide range for transporting people and goods economically by the application of extra energy provided by passengers and/or by motors. The modular use of interconnected vehicles in a virtual train composition is an inherent characteristic of PedalLine and offers maximum flexibility.

pedalline.html

Workbikes - Tools for a Sustainable Community

An overview of workbikes, presented at the Velo Mondial 2000 conference in Amsterdam by Shane Rhodes.

'Workbikers throughout the world are not only benefiting the cities they live in with clean air, less traffic, and less noise, but also themselves with a healthy, sustainable way of making a living. Through this paper I hope to impart a little understanding on workbikes, their current situation, and their promising future by looking at three major areas of their use; individual businesses and the government, human powered delivery services, and the community at large.'

www.workbike.org/research/velomondial.html

Becak - Indonesian Rickshaws

A research project by a student at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.

Abstract
The becak, the Indonesian cycle-rickshaw, is at present an integral part of the everyday public transport in many Indonesian towns and cities. With time however, the role of the becak, as well as the image it represents in Indonesian society, might experience variation or even disappearance. The relationship between its microscale development in Yogyakarta and its macroscale in the world might present an understanding of the evolution of the becak in Indonesia, as well as the roles it could play in the future.
The macroscale evolution will take us through space and time from the origins of the becak in Japan as the pull rickshaw, to its evolution throughout Asia and the rest of the World. The controversy that this humanly-powered vehicle has engendered since its birth pursued the becak to Indonesia, causing a long ‘war’ resulting in an unsuccessful ban in Jakarta; an hypothetical explanation to the apparent refusal of the becak to be ‘eradicated’ at this stage in its evolution will be attempted.
The microscale, set in Yogyakarta, will picture the becak as an object and subject. Its picture as an object includes visits to builders, fleet owners and wheel-guard painters with whom the subjective side of its world will also be approached. Their opinions, together with those of passengers, becak drivers and artists inspired by the becak world, will result in a reflection about the present and future necessity of the becak in Yogyakarta, as well as the socalled ‘inhumanity’ of being a becak driver.
The becak world in this microscale of Yogyakarta might enable us to relate back to the macroscale evolution of the becak in the world and Jakarta. The relationship between these two scales might reveal the full picture required for a deeper understanding of the general situation developing in Indonesia, a situation simultaneaously reflecting and reflected in the becak.

Download the whole document in .pdf format

Wooden Bicycles in East Africa

Travelling in western Uganda in 2000, Adam Lowe stumbled across very clever wooden bicycles being used to transport goods. These locally-made bikes had axles, steering columns, brakes (quite necessary for controlling descents in this mountainous region), and rubber tires.

See a portfolio of photographs at
www.saffron-ventures.com/personal/woodbikes/