The world is moving again, but things are moving in a different way. While in store demand has returned, an increasing number of people are browsing retailers on their smartphone and getting items delivered to them. The convenience economy is surging, worth more than $650 billion globally last year.

As the demand for delivery swells, cities, policymakers and businesses need to work in unison to create more efficient delivery options that promote safety, increase amenity for citizens and are greener by design. 

Released today, WSP’s Future of Delivery Report shows that micromobility has emerged as the smartest and most sustainable way to meet this demand and move goods through urban areas. 

Sharing key findings from ten global case studies, the report demonstrates how cities around the world – from Sydney to Paris – are leveraging micromobility to reduce emissions and create more vibrant metros. 

In Australia our e-commerce patterns are outgrowing infrastructure that was never designed to support the volume of deliveries it handles today. As a nation we spent a record $50 billion online in 2020, a jump of nearly 60 percent on the previous 12 months. By the end of the decade there will be a third more vehicles on the road – adding eleven minutes to the daily commute. But infrastructure is not a tomorrow problem – it’s a right now opportunity and micromobility is the most logical solution.

There is a lot Australians can learn from the research and data from the ten cities examined in the Future of Delivery Report. Firstly, ensuring we all work together to make it safer for people to cycle in cities, by changing the built environment to facilitate safe and easy pick-up and drop-off from the kerb. And secondly, setting long-term policies that support a transition from cars, trucks and vans to micromobility for last mile deliveries, promoting a more sustainable option.

Already more than four in ten Uber Eats deliveries globally are completed on two wheels but more supportive infrastructure will encourage more two-wheeled adoption. In Toronto we witnessed a 40% increase in deliveries by bike between 2019 and 2020, as a product of increased demand and delivery people embracing micromobility.

The report also releases first of their kind heat maps of micromobility usage and delivery transport modeshare. In New York, a heat map of Queens shows the impact of food delivery as an essential service throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with a 68% increase in February 2021 compared to the same time last year.

It makes sense for businesses to take action now given more than half the cost of a delivery is in the last mile. The long term benefits will touch the economy, the environment and even our health. A global shift to cycling could save cities $30 trillion by 2050 in lower energy use, a reduction in CO2 emissions and savings in direct costs to citizens. 

The Future of Delivery Report presents unequivocal benefits for moving towards a mode which decarbonises the last mile (cargo bikes emit 90 percent fewer carbon emissions compared to diesel vans) but change always needs more than awareness. It requires bold policy leadership.

I’m committing to ongoing advocacy for micromobility and to bringing together thought leaders from business, planning, design and policy to ensure that cities, citizens, business and the people that live, work and travel on shared infrastructure all benefit from a safer, smarter micromobility led approach. 

Business Council of Australia, Chief Executive Officer, Jennifer Westacott AO, 

“Business has stepped up to the challenge of providing customers with faster and more convenient delivery options.

“As this last mile freight task grows, we all have a responsibility to make sure delivery workers are kept safe, and that we are not adding to traffic congestion or vehicle emissions. This work from Uber highlights some of the thinking emerging from the business community to help address these very issues.”

Download the full report here.