Taking to the new-fangled e-cargo bike for the first time had me re-living the days as a five-year-old-when I first rode a bike without stabilisers.
It is exciting – but the problem is that the excitement comes from the fact that riding an e-cargo bike is actually a little scary.
With a large frontage, which carries whatever you need to take around, the e-cargo bike feels a little awkward and unwieldy at first.
I had the added benefit of riding the e-cargo bike at Colchester Northern Gateway Leisure Park, where there were no distractions, and, most importantly, where there was no traffic.
Although a date is yet to be set for when e-cargo bikes will be made available to people in Colchester later this summer, plans are in place for the vehicles to be based in Sir Isaac’s Walk, where they will be available to the public free of charge.
The key question is whether ordinary people would feel comfortable riding e-cargo bikes – which do feel a little tricker to control than normal bikes – along busy roads or in bad weather.
Although very few dispute the importance of greener travel, what people are prepared to forgo in order to save the planet is another matter – and as things stand, one wonders if people will feel they are risking their safety riding e-cargo bikes along Colchester’s roads.
Their introduction over the coming months is all part of Essex County Council’s Safer Greener Healthier campaign, which aims to get more people walking and cycling as their preferred method of travel.
Colchester is one of the first places in Essex to take up the e-cargo bike trial, after Essex Council received money from the Department for Transport’s e-cargo bike grant fund.
And Colchester’s infrastructure is gradually evolving so cyclists are better accommodated, with more roads throughout the town facing reduced speed limits as part of Essex Council’s Active Travel Fund.
Although cycling as a form of transport has understandably become far more popular in recent years, one suspects it will take quite some time for wheels of the e-cargo bike revolution to be set in motion.
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