Cargo bikes conquering the streets of Tartu in Estonia

Cargo bikes are not an easy-to-make investment for families that want to use them to ferry their children around town or bring home their shopping, or for small businesses that are interested in improving their logistics, especially their last-mile delivery. Purchase prices of 4,000-5,000 euros are common – far too high for something that’s a nice idea but may not be used on a regular basis. This is why the City of Tartu came up with the Velorent cargo bike rental scheme, which enables people to rent a cargo bike for a maximum of 20 days for 100 euros. Jannus Tamm from the City of Tartu explains: “The idea is that trying out a bike for roughly three weeks convinces people to use it in the long term – instead of a car or van.”

It took some time for Velorent to get going. The scheme started small with only three cargo bikes – one for freight transport and two for passengers. After some adjustments were made – for example, to the pick-up and return point – the project has been a great success. The cargo bikes are usually rented from April to October. According to a user survey, 85 per cent of the renters use the bikes instead of a car, with 15 per cent using them instead of a regular bike.

The publicly operated scheme now rents out 15 cargo bikes and four regular bikes – some motorised, some pedal-powered. The rental fees are far too low to cover the costs of purchasing and maintaining the bikes and managing the scheme, so it is heavily subsidised by the local authority. For the city, it is a policy instrument for sustainable mobility, not a business case.

To make renting a cargo bike as convenient as possible, the Velorent booking system is connected to the city’s general bike rental system with more than 700 bicycles. Only the pick-up and return station remains separate. “Due to the longer-term rental periods, we do not have to provide so many stations, which makes the scheme easier to operate,” says Jannus Tamm.

A Strategic Approach

Velorent is only one chapter of a larger story. Also as part of the Cyclurban+ project, the City of Tartu started developing a municipal cycling strategy. It links in with the City’s Climate Action Plan and was approved in 2021. The strategy includes upgrading of the city’s cycling infrastructure and an expansion of the road maintenance programme to make cycling safer and more appealing. In winter, it is vital to keep the cycling lanes free of snow and ice. Otherwise, people and businesses will switch back to their cars or vans.

Increased investment in cycling infrastructure and attractive rental schemes have led to a substantial increase in bicycle traffic. While bikes made up only 3 to 4 per cent of all commutes in the 2010s, this has now increased to8 per cent.

Start with an EUKI Pilot Project

The Cyclurban+ project’s rationale was that the transport sector accounts for approximately 20 per cent of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions and little progress had been made in reducing emissions. The Cyclurban+ project partners in the Czech Republic, Estonia and Slovakia therefore pursued a systematic, integrated approach to encourage people to switch from cars to bicycles and foster a shift in mindset.

One of the main outcomes of the Cyclurban+ project in Slovakia was a Manual for Calming Traffic in cities. According to project leader Daniel Duris, the manual was a great success, with more than 400 copies distributed to cities, towns and villages in Slovakia. An enhanced second edition was published in 2023 and distributed to more municipalities, transport companies, urban planners and other interested parties.

Municipalities in Slovakia and the Czech Republic also introduced pilot cargo bike rental schemes. However, in Slovakia, the focus was on municipalities that rent the bikes for street cleaning and maintenance, especially in pedestrian zones, public spaces and other places that are hard to reach by car. In the Czech Republic, the project succeeded in making cycling safer. It advocated for an amendment to the law to make a minimum distance of 1.5 metres mandatory when overtaking bicycles. After the issue was widely debated in the Czech media and politics, the amendment finally passed the parliamentary vote. Looking back, the Cyclurban+ project has had long-lasting impacts – on the roads of Tartu, in the streets of Trnava in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic’s legal code – and most importantly, in people’s minds, where cars are no longer the only option when it comes to individual mobility.