Urbike, is a cooperative that acts to deploy cyclologistics and professional cyclo-mobility in Belgium. It was created in March 2018, under the impulse of the BCklet ("bicycle") experimental research project, which aimed to test bike delivery in Brussels with the flows of 4 leading customers: Bpost (the Belgian Post Office), the "Centrale of home service and caring", Delhaize and Multipharma. This 2-year project was carried out in partnership with Smart, the Mobilise mobility research center (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Febecoop and USL-B. Since then, Urbike has gone from strength to strength.
From 3 co-founders, 1 garage and 1 cargo bike in 2018, the Brussels-based company now has 41 employees, including 30 couriers, who have already completed a total of 442 000 deliveries and covered more than 360,000km on the streets of Brussels, Gand and Leuven.
Urbike has developed its business to become a key player in cyclemobility: first- and last-mile delivery, urban logistics consultancy and pilot projects, cyclelogistics equipment sales, training and support in equipment selection for professionals looking for cycling solutions.
Delivery: express and courier
With a team of 30 professional and experienced couriers, and a staff turnover almost 3x lower than the industry average, Urbike is asserting the strength of its cooperative and working with numerous customers.
80% of Urbike deliveries are B2B, while 20% are B2C
For eFarmz, organic meal baskets delivered every week, Urbike puts the emphasis on successful deliveries at all costs, with dedicated delivery riders and tailor-made IT system thatgives customers advance warning and, 15 minutes before delivery, allows them to indicate whether or not they will be present to give instructions in the event of their absence. Drop-off at the neighbor's, at the back of the house, at the grocer's down the street: everything is done to ensure that parcels are delivered on time. With 10 to 12 delivery points per round, and an average of 2 parcels per customer, food is delivered in isothermal boxes during a 3-hour time slot chosen in advance by the customer (3pm-6pm or 6pm-9pm). These are the hours when Brussels' residential districts are most congested, and when bicycles come into their own. According to a recent study by researchers using GPS data from Urbike's cargo bikes, their couriers are 2x more efficient than vans to make their deliveries in Brussels. With a 99% to 100% delivery success rate, Urbike ensures the quality of this e-commerce service by embodying the brand with a strong branding.
Offering organic and sustainable products, eFarmz aligns its delivery method with its values for a complete 0 emission model..
On the B2B side, as a subcontractor to the SD group, Urbike delivers 400 to 500 parcels a day. L'Oréal, Pierre Fabre and Hachette products, among others, are delivered by bike to 9 communes in the Brussels region. These B2B deliveries are carried out by bike in areas where the SD Group encounters traffic problems, making trucks and vans less efficient. As part of this long-term collaboration, Urbike worked on improving parcel sorting and route preparation.
Estimated at between €0.70 and €1 during the first months of their collaboration, the handling of a parcel was becoming too costly in relation to the revenue generated by its delivery. In fact, once a parcel had been delivered by truck to the Urbike hub, it had to be sorted a second time. By orienting order preparation towards pre-containerization, thanks to the use of micro-containers upstream of the last mile, Urbike made it possible to reduce by 75% the sorting time and to reduce parcel handling costs to €0.20.
By evolving in stages, according to their customers and pilot projects, Urbike intends to develop the distribution model of tomorrow: more sustainable and more efficient.
Consulting and pilot projects
As part of a pilot project with Bpost (BCklet, 2018-2020), Urbike has redefined its touring procedures to fully integrate the potential of a secured container where Bpost delivers the last mile on foot or by bike. These containers, used as mobile micro-hubs, have improved the approach and efficiency of last-mile delivery. Secured by an RFID lock, the Parcel Containers are located in trusted locations to enable Bpost delivery drivers to access them efficiently, and used as "recharging points" where delivery drivers collect mail and parcels before delivering to their recipients on foot or by bike. Thanks to this project, Bpost saw a 90% reduction in external costs and an improvment of the rounds efficiency by 30%.
For the client Facq, wholesaler of bathroom materials, renewable energies, heating and water treatment, Urbike tested IT interoperability, route optimization and the deployment of a zero-emission distribution model for all light parcel flows in the Brussels region. After a month's pilot project, the results were extremely positive : 1h30 won per round, efficiency gains of over 50%, and very satisfied end-consumers with the level of service and predictability of deliveries. The Facq pilot project has developed into a long-term partnership. Urbike operates 3 rounds a day in Brussels and 1 in Gand, covering distances of 30 to 50 km for 15 to 26 stops. Trained in Facq processes and branded in the brand's colors, Urbike 's courriers and cargo-bikes and trailers, easily differentiate themselves from other site suppliers.
Training: Cairgo Bike project
With the aim of democratizing business mobility by bike, Urbike participated in the 2020 Cairgo Bike project, financed by the European Urban Innovation Actions program and supported by the Brussels region, to help professionals convert to cargo bikes as a mode of business travel or as a delivery model.
By the end of the project in September 2023, more than 220 organizations and 700 professionals will have been supported in their conversion to cargo bikes, through trial sessions of cargo bikes and trailers, training courses, "full-scale" test weeks, etc.
By orienting training and practices towards professions that can be operated by bike, Urbike has contributed to the Good Wheels short series on the customization of a Runner trailer to the needs of Alain, a carpenter who was previously traveling around Brussels with a van that was ¾ empty.
Equipment: for efficient operation
In order to operate efficiently, Urbike's courriers use the BicyLift et Runner bike trailers. Depending on their clients and their needs, they advice them the best solutions and modules : Liff Parcel Container, Trayrack, Fork for pallets, Flatbed or even the isothermal Roll O'City Container. The Runner can be mounted with a designed custom workshop, as in the Good Wheels video, but can also be used to deliver parcels with the MegaBag and most recently the Runner Parcel Container which they received in pre-production and tested with a view to marketing the first series.
Drawing on Urbike's expertise, FlexiModal has joined forces with the cooperative to provide a direct link with the operational side of the business, enabling it to design ever more effective products that meet the needs of the field.
This enables Urbike, as part of its consultancy business, to recommend the right equipment for its customers, with full awareness and knowledge of the product's actual use and underlying qualities that will ensure their customers' performance. This expertise enables them to provide training for couriers and professionals, as well as fleet maintenance.
The real estate issue: finding your hub, an essential challenge
As in France, land is a major issue in Belgium and Brussels..
Urbike currently has 3 hubs: its main hub, located in Anderlecht (south of Brussels), is dedicated to receiving and delivering goods to and from a catchment area from 3 to 5 km, a micro-hub in Etterbeek (east of Brussels), used for B2C deliveries in the heart of a densely populated residential area, and a warehouse in a former streetcar depot that serves as a storage space and third-location facility for a number of Brussels-based companies involved in bicycle mobility.
The main hub has 250 sq.m. of space dedicated to operational activities (reception, sorting, handling and loading of goods, dispatch, workshop), which seems a reasonable size given the volumes handled. Offices, meeting rooms and a common area are located on a 150 m2 mezzanine. In order to pursue its growth, Urbike is looking for a 500 or even 1000m² space, which would enable it to deploy an automated sorting approach and increase its volume.
Today, Urbike's growth strategy is kg paessentially based on 2 options. The first is based on the deployment of 2 major hubs (500-1000 m2 each) in the north and south of the Brussels region, in order to cover the largest possible territory with the greatest possible operational efficiency, and located on or near major traffic arteries to guarantee the best possible accessibility for its customers and carriers who need to supply the hubs with goods. The alternative would be to operate from a main hub (500-1000 m2) and a network of 3 to 4 micro-hubs strategically positioned at the heart of dense delivery areas, to enable couriers to maximize the efficiency of their rounds while limiting the number of kilometers covered.
Urbike : deploying cyclelogistics in Belgium