Since their launch in June, Bedford Borough Council’s eCargo bikes have been branded a ‘huge success’ and even have their own names.
Thanks to students at Westfield Primary School, the names Keygo and Greenwise have been chosen for the new vehicles as part of a Borough-wide competition.
As part of the competition, students were asked to answer three questions: “Can you explain why travelling sustainably is good for humans, the environment and our future?”, “When you are older, would you like to use a eCargo bike? Why?” and “How can we make the air in Bedford cleaner?”.
“The eCargo bikes have been a huge success since being introduced in Bedford Borough,” said Cllr Charles Royden, portfolio holder for environment.
Since their launch, they have been used by the Sustainable Transport Team for public events and to transport equipment to schools and businesses, including putting over 100 lights on bikes at Castle Newnham School and delivering balance bikes to St. John Rigby Catholic School for the pupils to use.
“Our tree inspectors have also been using the eCargo bikes to travel around the borough to conduct their surveys,while officers and volunteers at Harrold Country Park are using them to transport tools around the park,” said Cllr Royden.
“A local private company, Flamme Rouge, have also got involved and are using their eCargo bike to collect supplies for their coffee shop and conduct mobile Dr Bike sessions across the borough.”
Westfield winners
In addition to being selected to choose the winning eCargo bike names, Westfield Primary School has just been awarded Modeshift STARS Bronze award for its efforts to promote active and sustainable travel to the school community.
Modeshift STARS is a national scheme that recognises excellence in the delivery of travel plans.
Bedford Borough Council’s sustainable travel team have been working closely with the school to support this programme.
