The intention is made clear by the manufacturer. This vehicle is specifically designed to be used on bike lanes, to avoid being stuck in car traffic. In practice this obviously means it'll block the bike lane or sidewalk while delivery is done, which can take minutes.

"Designed for Cycling infrastructure
eQuad Width 36 inches (910 mm)"

fernhay.com/equad/

2/3

Fernhay | Redefining Cities with Zero-Emission eQuad

Discover Fernhay's revolutionary eQuad (eCargo Bike) - the ultimate zero-emission solution that's making cities cleaner and greener.

^{admin (Fernhay)}

Amsterdam cyclist here,.. tl/dr; maybe.

It's not just these, there are lots of different boxy, too fast, electric-pedal hybrids causing problems on the bike paths.

Things are building to a head, it's chaos on suburban bike paths right now and the pedestrians and pedal cyclists (eg me) are being bullied by the new 'kings of the road' just like we were by the old ones.. It's like a repeat of the 70's situation that birthed bike movement, hopefully we can reclaim the bicycle paths for bicycles.

Oh, and dont get me started about the Microcars (wider, heavier and faster), I want every one of them found on a bike path confiscated and recycled. At the drivers expense.

Edited for typos and comprehensibility

@cmthiede

But I am in favor of smaller courier vehicles however they exist. Cities were not really built for semis pulling 53 foot trailers. That used to be rails job. I would welcome legislation that prohibited trucks longer than 25 feet without permit. Make fleets smaller more numerous more drivers.

Well I think it's still positive, even if counting these as cars is cringe. I mean the alternative is packages continue to be delivered by big vans on roads, and people keep saying car-part of road is critical infrastructure.

The more busy and Crowded bike paths are, the easier it is to convince people to make bike paths wider. Or the logical next step, dutch-style bicycle streets 😊

I think technically I would not object to these on principle. The DHL recumbent ones are nice. But the key difference there is visibility and assisted driving - this tall setup blocks any visibility and look like plain electric vehicles with a poor excuse for pedaling (i.e. it is not a bike). Contrary to the DHL one, no way you drive this back to a lot if the electrics go out.

velove.se/news/city-containers…

More City Containers in new pilot with DHL Express in Frankfurt and Utrecht

Two pilot projects were launched by DHL Express in Frankfurt, Germany and Utrecht, Holland. DHL uses Velove last mile solution, Armadillo electric cargo bike.

^{www.velove.se}

I see this as a provocation too. This is a car using a bike lane to avoid traffic – the same entitled mentality as people who choose the quiet carriage of the train because they want the peace for themselves, but feel entitled to talk on their own phone when they want.

For quicker delivery of heavier and bulkier items using bike lanes, I prefer to see something like these.

In the Netherlands, bike lanes often are wide enough (and tough enough) to allow ambulances. I think that is a very good idea. Also, it would help here - iff delivery guys took their vehicles out of the way of ambulances in time.

@quixoticgeek

If you look at the silver lining, though... as large corporations start to take advantage of bike lanes, it may increase demand for safe bike lanes.

Imagine if the lobbying power of Amazon put it's weight behind safe biking infrastructure. US cities would rapidly start looking more like Amsterdam and less like a car-filled game of Frogger

Yes, this is true. But lobbying ensures your tax dollars are going to go towards "free" infrastructure either way.

At least this way, some of that might be for safe biking.

they did expand the standard minimum width of one-way bicycle lane from 1.5m to 2m recently so a cargo bike can pass another.

The picture above is from USA, where clearly no such minimum is observed.

surely the energy footprint is going to be a hell of a lot lower, even compared to an electric truck.

What about these?
urbantricycles.co.uk/cargo-tri…

You're gonna hate me....

I have to slow down and have 100% of my visibility blocked in a normal traffic lane by UPS vans, city busses, school busses, delivery trucks, etc.... And it drives me insane! All while there's an empty bike lane next to me.

HOWEVER.....

Why is it any different when they block YOUR lane??? Seriously!!! Motorists have to be patient and deal with this exact same annoyance, in the public's interest.

Why shouldn't you?

I support cycling and strongly believe in affording anybody in smaller less visible vehicles than my own, extra caution.

Every package in that UPS represents someone who stayed off the roads, out of their car, and ordered their stuff online. They're contributing heavily to getting cars off roads and cleaner air.

Be patient. Maybe it will turn at the next signal.

We have them here in germany and they just park on the road-part, not on the bicycle lane.

I see it as a real good thing to fix traffic jams. (when parking on the road part)

If you want to fix this delivery-object problem you should aim at the 'demand' part, which is people ordering from them, not the 'deliver' part.

p.s. I'm far from a supporter for delivery corporations and never use them for obvious reasons, but I think this is progress.

@cczona But wouldn't there be much more traffic on the bike lanes if everyone rides individually to the pickup point for their package?

At my local pickup store (Post/DHL), you also wait at least 10mins to get your package (20mins at peak times). So at any time there are about 10 people or more at the store who need to park their bike around that place.

My thought now is: These ten people occupying 2m plus safety margin of a bike lane while riding, and 0.8 by 2 square meters parking space on the sidewalk around the pickup place while waiting to check out, could be one person with a cargo bike, occupying 3m of a bike lane plus safety margin while riding, and 0.9 by 3 square meters parking space (roadway, sidewalk, loading zone, parking lot) while delivering. Am I wrong?