Bicycle Logistics as a Sustainability Strategy: Lessons from Brazil and Germany

Fernando Fontes () and Victor Andrade ()
Additional contact information
Fernando Fontes: Department of Work, Technology and Participation, Technical University of Berlin, 10587 Berlin, Germany
Victor Andrade: Department of Engineering Technology and Didactics, Technical University of Denmark, 2750 Ballerup, Denmark

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-29

Abstract: The last mile presents the logistics chain’s lowest efficiency and highest cost. Thus, the bicycle emerges as a promising alternative in the rising efforts to advance urban logistics sustainability. This research aims to identify factors for successful last-mile cycle logistics implementation in a comparative study of two cities from the Global South and North. Berlin and Sao Paulo cases were analyzed to outline the cycle logistics ecosystem and to derive learnings. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders of each city to gather their perceptions of cycle logistics challenges, social acceptance, green premium, good practices, and main agents, enabling the analysis of each city’s ecosystem and a comparative analysis between them. The systematization of challenges, good practices, and stakeholders’ maps highlighted four aspects for successful cycle logistics implementation: clear identification of demands and challenges; acknowledgment and communication of learnings; advancement of practices addressing local challenges; cooperation between diverse key stakeholders. Ultimately, two relevant takeaways are that cycle logistics has a specific application scope and it is an alternative among many options that, together with the comprehension of local context, is crucial for the cycle logistics development. Still, experiences and exchanges with other cities may leverage implementation success.

Keywords: bicycle; last mile; logistics; urban logistics; cycle logistics; urban mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12613/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12613/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:19:p:12613-:d:933122

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().