Its chief executive, Adam Crozier, said bicycles had been involved in increasing numbers of accidents. He also revealed that the company had trialled a small number of tricycles, but these had proved unable to cope in areas where the roads were hilly in any degree.
Among those who have mourned the passing of the postie's bike is Lord Berkeley. The Labor peer, and keen public transport advocate and environmentalist said the Royal Mail's move ran against the Government's stated aim of encouraging more people to use pedal power. But business minister Lord Hunt said bicycles were not suited for carrying parcels and packages, which were becoming an increasing part of postmen's and women's workloads.
Other delivery companies are taking the introduction of more energy-efficient transport on board. In the same week as the Royal Mail announced it was abandoning pushbikes, FedEx said it would be trialling four purpose-built electric trucks around the Los Angeles area of the United States. Two manufacturers would supply the vehicles so that FedEx could evaluate them side-by-side. All the vehicles have been specified to have an operating range sufficient for the distance covered in a typical eight-hour delivery shift.
The vehicles join 1,800 already in use by FedEx which use alternative fuel sources, the first of which were introduced as far back as 2004. FedEx Vice-President, Global Vehicles, John Formisano, said he hoped that other delivery and logistics companies would follow its lead and help reduce the carbon footprint of the industry.
Other delivery companies have taken similar steps in line with efforts to make the industry greener. In early 2010, UPS announced it had expanded its worldwide fleet of gas-powered trucks to more than 1,900 with the introduction of 245 new delivery vehicles to operate in the US states of Colorado and California.
DeutschePost DHL, meanwhile, also ordered 1,800 new trucks which met the highest Euro V emissions standards, which came into force in 2009. Of these, a large proportion will be brought into service in the UK, while others will be delivered to Sweden and Finland.
