Global P2P Cargo Bike-Sharing Platform

Bicycling is a wonderful transportation option. But one thing many people who haven’t been to top bicycling cities or countries get hung up on is the concern that you can’t transport much with a bike. Now, I lived in one of the top bicycling cities in the world for five months (Groningen in the Netherlands), and when I hear such concerns I don’t know if I should laugh or cry. I saw people transporting just about everything imaginable with various types of cargo bikes, including food, couches (I’ve seen it), large equipment, and… kids:

The good news? Cargo bikes are getting a boost from a new, global peer-to-peer (P2P) cargo bike-sharing network — Velogistics.

From sister site Green Living Ideas:

Velogistics has the plan figured out with a straight-forward mapping system. People who want to rent or share their cargo bikes post photos and short descriptions of their bikes on the Velogistics website. Bikes can be shared for free or rented at a set price. The location of the bikes is easily found using pins on the Google Maps system. The Velogistics team also has members that scout out broken and abandoned bikes, and refurbishes them to be used as cargo bikes. Additionally, they are building anopen-source wiki dedicated to care and maintenance of cargo bikes.

Sounds great!

Image Credits: cargo bikes in Groningen by zachary shahan (me); jurjen_nl; vikapproved