Should Sidmouth have its own e-trike service? Press reports

It follows a survey which showed that most Sidmouthians are clearly appreciating there being less traffic and that half of both customers and shopkeepers said they would use a newly formed local delivery service if it continued.

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A couple of weeks ago, the VGS publicly touted the idea of a combined delivery and passenger service – offered by electronic trikes:

Should Sidmouth have its own e-trike service? – Vision Group for Sidmouth

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There has been quite a lot of local media interest in the project since…

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The Nub News reports on things:

Should Sidmouth have its own e-trike service? | sidmouth.nub.news

With one comment on their Facebook pages here:

Barbara Bee Sweetman: Absolutely! We thought about us doing that 20 yrs ago but never materialised. Brilliant idea! Then we can have pedestrian zones if they are excepted!

Sidmouth Nub News – Home | Facebook

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The Herald also carries the story:

Should Sidmouth have an e-trike taxi and cargo service? | Sidmouth Herald

Sidmouth Herald – What do you think of the idea? | Facebook

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Daniel Clarke of Devon Live covers the report – and interviews the county councillor in charge of traffic and transport:

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It follows a survey which showed that most Sidmouthians are clearly appreciating there being less traffic

“There is also a place for shopping deliveries being made by E-Bike and even a benefit to local tourism economy in the summer with an E-Cargo Bike rickshaw service.

“I do hope that this will be progressed further and am 100 per cent behind any scheme and will offer any help I can to see it happen, and I’ve offered to make available £2,000 from my locality budget towards this project as long as it was being administered by the Vision Group or another recognised group, but I can’t however make funding available to individuals in setting up a business.

“I have raised this with Sidmouth town council who are looking at possibly having Co-Bikes with docking stations at the Ham near information centre and other localities.”

The idea of the Sid Valley having its own e-trike delivery-and-passenger service came up during lockdown, following a survey sent out by the Vision Group for Sidmouth, together with the Town Council.

It showed that “Most Sidmouthians are clearly appreciating there being less traffic – with over 80% saying they ‘like less traffic’ customers and shopkeepers said they would use a newly formed local delivery service if it continued after lockdown.

A specific proposal has since been put forward by the VGS, for a dual-use system which would act as both an e-trike delivery service for town centre shops to use and an e-trike ‘taxi’ service, bringing both locals and visitors into town, dropping them off and then collecting them when they were done.

There are already several such projects underway across the country, including the Post Office looking at e-trikes for deliveries, and during the COVID-19 crisis, Co-Bikes’ cargo bikes have helped support local, independent businesses by providing a zero emission delivery service around the city.

The ideal service would be a combined cargo-and-passenger bike, the VGS have said, suggesting that a dual-purpose system seems as if it would have to be a necessity to make return journeys pay or to fill in slack periods until the business is established, with a spokesman adding: “With recharging points at the Knowle grass-crete car park, visitors could be offered a lift into town on one of these handy e-trikes.”

They added: “By carrying people and goods, these electric trikes can help the local economy keep moving, can help people shop and get about locally, and can help the high street recover, with an ideal vehicle being the Yokler dual- purpose parcel and passenger carrier.

E-trike delivery and passenger service could be coming to the Sid Valley – Devon Live

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Triporteur professionnel à assistance électrique pour le transport de passagers, Yokler X – YouTube