Electric cargo bikes in healthcare

The medical industry is on the move.

In recent years, innovations in the e-cargo bike industry have resulted in a different, future-oriented perspective on logistics. Cargo bikes are proving to be valuable in healthcare and the the medical industry. Cargo bikes have already shown themselves to be effective in the medical and healthcare industry in recent years. We have gathered together some inspiring applications.

The electric cargo bike is therefore a great solution.

Lisette Bruijnis | OLVG

Fit vaccination doctors on bike

The flexibility offered by the electric cargo bike has proved a source of inspiration for many healthcare professionals. Hence vaccination doctors are riding around on Urban Arrow Cargo Bikes with insulated boxes in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The required vaccines can be safely stored in the cooled boxes. The bikes of Thuisvaccinatie.nl travel around the city in order to provide people with the necessary travel vaccinations at home or at their place of work before they go on holiday. That means that clients do not need to interrupt their working day. The fit vaccination doctors on bikes arrive at a time that best suits their clients, including evenings and weekends.

The physio bike

Another amazing healthcare alternative in which the electric cargo bike plays a starring role is the Physio Bike in Deventer (NL). Bart Wijnands is a physiotherapist who believes that you can achieve better results outside the walls of a treatment room. So he cycles to his patients. To their home, work, school or anywhere they like. He matches his treatments to his patients’ environment and wishes. This physiotherapist enjoys the challenge of using his knowledge and thereby linking healthcare and sport. For a long time he wanted to literally bring this to his patients, but was unable to make it work logistically. Until he saw more and more electric cargo bikes flash past.

They gave rise to his idea for the Physio Bike. Bart Wijnands is now very flexible and can travel through the city from patient to patient in no time. He is not the first physiotherapist to have swapped his practice room for an Urban Arrow. Remco Idema of eFysio in the Hague has been cycling to his patients on his Urban Arrow cargo bike since 2016.

Chemo at home, by cargo bike

In 2019 the OLVG in Amsterdam started an unusual pilot with oncology nurses who visited their patients on cargo bikes in order to treat them against cancer in their own home. That proved to be success, and some 900 patients have now been treated at home. Because they undergo their treatment in their own environment, it is perceived to be less challenging. During the pilot, the OLVG explored in detail how this customized care can be done as quickly and easily as possible, including for the nurses.

“Using a car in Amsterdam is not ideal. The electric cargo bike is therefore a great solution. Parking is no problem, and with a special rucksack for the medication you can then easily get to the patient’s home, even on the third floor,” says oncology nurse Lisette Bruijnis. The ‘cargo bike service’ not only proved effective for patients, but also enhanced the nurses’ enjoyment of their work. The OLVG is therefore researching whether the number and type of home treatments can be expanded.

Using a car in Amsterdam is not ideal.

Lisette Bruijnis | OLVG

Bikes – the healthcare of the future

Paris is home to Emergency Bikes that allow doctors to reach their patients more quickly despite the busy traffic in the city.

GPs are also recognising the benefits of this. Hence GP Joep Terhaar of Biking Doctors rides his Urban Arrow Craft through the centre of The Hague. Cycling from patient to patient, he delivers the appropriate healthcare to people. He doesn’t see the patients at a surgery, but visits them at home. You book your appointment digitally, not with a receptionist. “Visiting people at home lends an extra dimension. The information that you get at people’s homes is very valuable, and provides context for their care needs.”

When Joep started his practice, he looked very carefully at how the average GP runs their practice and how that could be done better and more efficiently. “Using a cargo bike instead of a car seemed very logical step to me. I’m both a doctor and a cyclist, so I believe exercise is important. And the Urban Arrow Craft just looks really cool, so it was easy to make that choice!” He also likes the fact that he can leave his medical supplies in the bike’s locked box during a home visit.

I’m both a doctor and a cyclist, so I believe exercise is important.

Joep Terhaar | General Practioner

Emission-free healthcare

HartingBank supply and rent healthcare and rehabilitation aids to healthcare organisations. With branches throughout the country, they have a massive logistics network and many care providers are dependent on their services. Fast and flexible delivery is important. HartingBank, which is part of Medux, also believe that they have another obligation as a social organisation: to be climate neutral by 2030. In order to achieve that, HartingBank have purchased a fully electric fleet, including two electric cargo bikes. They use the cargo bikes to deliver small orders and carry out service activities in Amsterdam and Groningen city centres.

Urban Arrow’s care

We are particularly urging the medical and healthcare industry to actively think about futureproof logistics solutions. “We moved into our new premises in Amsterdam at the start of this year, and that enables us to assemble in-house. That means we can now respond to specific requests from the market and ensure the cargo bikes fully comply with the requirements for medical transport,” explains Frank Oudegeest, Director B2B.

The fact that the logistics underpinning the medical and healthcare industry are complex and wide-ranging makes it particularly interesting. Because logistics are part of every process, and we can make a major difference there in various areas. The flexibility of cargo bikes in traffic in towns and cities ensures a faster response time and less time wasted. That means a doctor can be on site more quickly, and pharmacies can provide more people with their medication in a shorter space of time. It is even possible to equip our bikes with a cooling system so that delicate medication and vaccines can be transported safely.

Urban Arrow is being approached more and more often to help think about the use of cargo bikes within the medical and healthcare industry. Innovation, research and development are deeply embedded in Urban Arrow’s DNA. We are keen to use that to help organisations in healthcare to develop sustainable transport.

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