Prague's electric cargo bike depot is one of Europe’s best zero-emission projects

In mid November 2020, the first electric cargo bike depot was opened in the Florenc area of the Czech capital Prague. The Florenc depot acts as the parcel delivery depot for Prague city centre.

By the summer of 2021, cargo bike couriers had already delivered more than 50,000 parcels from the depot, cycling a total distance of more than 23,000 kilometres. This project has now been identified as one of the three best projects in the 'Zero Pollution' category of Eurocities' Awards 2021, as it was considered to be one of Europe’s most environmentally-friendly projects.

Prague's Deputy Mayor for Transportation Adam Scheinherr states: “the trend in the number of deliveries during the operation of the cycle depot in Florenc confirmed our assumption: It is an important project, and it makes sense to continue and develop it further. It was also rightly among the best European projects at the Eurocities' Awards 2021 in the Zero Pollution category.” After a successful trial managed by ekolo, the Florenc depot is today operated by the Technical Road Administration of the city of Prague.

As a result of the success of the Florenc depot, Prague will open a second depot under the city's inner ring road in the Smichov Business District in September 2021. The location is easily accessible for vans to drop off their parcels and will allow cycle couriers to cover the last mile and serve both sides of the Vltava river. The depot will host eight companies, with negotiations ongoing with another two. The depot will be able to handle up to 10 full containers a day.

“Our experience in Prague so far shows that micro-depots in city centres contribute to streamlining logistics so that goods always arrive covering the shortest possible distance. In other words, the more depots we have, the better the whole system will work” said Deputy Mayor Scheinherr.

Article published first at https://www.expats.cz/ on 6 August 2021.