MP Smarter Travel, in partnership with Active Planning, has been selected by Team London Bridge to deliver their Cycling Strategy.

About Team London Bridge

Team London Bridge is the Business Improvement District (BID) serving around 400 businesses and organisations in the area around the Shard. The BID is funded through annual conributions made by rate-paying businesses towards services, projects and events that benefit businesses and employees. The London Bridge Plan (2016) sets out policies and idenifies projects to strengthen the local economy and improve the physical environment.

Cycle Strategy
The Cycling Strategy will identify a set of projects, including both physcial infrastructure and behaviour change measures, to increase the uptake of cycling in the London Bridge area. This plan will sit within the Low Emissions Neighbourhood project covering London Bridge and the Better Bankside BID area.

MP Smarter Travel and Active Planning will be hosting a series of workshops with local businesses and organisations to form a bold long-term vision for cycling in the area, and to idenfity specific projects to be implemented over the short, medium and long-term.  

If you would like to get involved, get in touch!

Area-wide freight consolidation is a great way to lower the impact of delivery and servicing trips in an area with a good concentration of businesses. It has become a popular type of project amongst local authorities, business improvement districts (BIDs) and those delivering Low Emission Neighbourhoods (LENs). Below is a list of six tips that MP Smarter Travel has developed from previous freight consolidation projects which can achive a 10-20% reduction in freight impacts over an area.

The key theme is maximising outcomes within given timescales and budgets. 

1) Target business types that are most likely to be able to alter their freight arrangements
Offices are much more open to making changes than retail or restaurants. People who manage procurement in offices tend to view the goods and services that generate freight trips as substitutable. For retail and restaurants, the products and ingredients they sell are fundamental to the business, and are therefore less likely to be substituted.

2) Target independent businesses
Independent businesses are likely to have control over their procurement, and can be influenced to substitute suppliers, trip profiles, etc. Chains are more likely to have procurement decisions made at the head office, and therefore less likely to change suppliers to accommodate consolidation with neighbouring businesses. Chains are likely already saving money by using economies of scale across the multiple branches.

3) Target recurring trips
Focus on minimising the impact of recurring trips related to goods that the business has specifically procured, including milk, tea/coffee, water, fruit, stationery, cleaning supplies, toiletries, and waste collection. Ad-hoc trips such as courier trips are generally not under the control of the business.

4) Review procurement policies and contracts
Businesses may be locked into contracts with certain suppliers, so this will need to be taken into account with regards to changing supplier/delivery arrangements.

5) Choose preferred suppliers based on clear criteria

Generally, businesses rely on two criteria for choosing a given supplier: quality and cost. As part of a freight impact reduction programme, suppliers will need to be chosen based on a wider criteria, including quality and cost, as well as vehicle emissions, trip timing, and breath of service offer (ability to consolidate orders).

6) Quantify outcomes
Generally, businesses will be willing to make changes if it is convenient to do so, saves money, and/or is good for corporate social responsibility (CSR). Quantifying cost savings through bulk purchase discounts is an effective way for businesses to justify the small amount of effort required to engage in the programme. CSR accreditation is also a good incentive. For the programme more generally, the reduction in the number of vehicles across the BID or LEN should be carefully measured in order to feed into reports and case study documents. Other key measurable outputs include the reduction in peak hour trips, and emissions savings within the BID/LEN.

If you would like to discuss freight impact reduction, get in touch!