Bakfiets and Douze win TfL endorsement for their cargo bikes

Both Bakfiets and Douze will be able to use an official endorsement from Transport for London (TfL) for the next 12 months.

Both brands won out at TfL’s Best Cargo Bike competition, with Bakfiets winning the families category for its ‘Long’ cargo bike and Douze’s G4e scoring in the business category.

The Best Cargo Bike competition was judged by industry and business representatives, including TfL’s own Will Norman – who Cycling Industry News spoke with at the same event for the latest CIN Podcast.

Speaking to CIN, Norman said: “One of the areas that is really exciting is first and last-mile deliveries. Nobody’s arguing that you can bring in steel girders to build the next sky scraper on a bike, but what is really apparent is just how many of those first and last mile deliveries can be done by bikes.

Joining Will Norman in the judging were representatives from Mothercare, Sustrans, community cycling groups and family cycling bloggers.

Hugh Salt, Bakfiets’ UK importer and distributor, said: “I am thrilled at this award has been given to the Bakfiets Long cargo bike and it’s great that TfL are doing more to raise awareness of the benefits of these types of bikes through this project. Bakfiets, based in the Netherlands, has been making of bikes dedicated to carrying children for over 20 years. I’m really pleased to see London and Londoners catching on to how healthy, practical and fun cargo bikes can be for the whole family.”

Bicicapace Pelican and Harry Vs Larry Bullitt were also highly regarded in the business category.

TfL said it is working with industry and business to enable them to make the switch to cargo bikes where possible. A contractor working with TfL on its transformation of Highbury Corner recently used a cargo bike to deliver hydrogen gas for the first time. TfL’s Healthy Streets for Business Fund awards funding to business groups to run projects enabling greater use of cycle freight, including recent schemes in Archway, London Bridge and Streatham.