KUALA LUMPUR: Urbanice Malaysia is donating folding bicycles to 30 food delivery walkers throughout the Merdeka month to encourage urban citizens to embrace green mobility and reduce carbon emissions.
“We want to help the walkers and this is how we can support the B40 income group via our Bike4u 2.0 programme. [It's] for them to have a larger area of delivery and at the same time, they can help to reduce carbon emission,” said Urbanice Malaysia chief executive officer Norliza Hashim.
A total of 10 folding bicycles were handed over to the pink walkers last week. Asked why folding bikes were preferred for the Bike4u 2.0 drive, Norliza said: “This is all about micro-mobility.
"The bicycle is quite light. And they (the walkers) can also bring it into public transport such as LRT, MRT and KTM coaches for them to have a wider scope of food delivery.”
To create low carbon mobility in the country, she said: “We want to make our cities more sustainable in line with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 11 while dealing with different kinds of challenges and provide jobs for those living in the city.”
“We are looking at ways and how we can solve the urban mobility manner such as first and last-mile solutions by using data. We are analysing some of the participants’ routes of using bicycles from the ‘aktif.life’ app,” said Norliza, a renowned town planner and urban designer.
She said the 2.0 pilot run has commenced since June and the underprivileged are given the priority to receive the free bicycles.
Stating that the Bike4u 2.0 has received an overwhelming response from 100 Pink Walkers in the Klang Valley applying for the folding bikes, she said Urbanice would intensify efforts in the Greater Kuala Lumpur and other cities in the peninsula.
This is to encourage p-hailing riders to opt for a more sustainable mode of transportation or micro-mobility vehicles such as Escooter and electric bicycles in the coming years.
“As long as it is not giving any form of emission in line with the work we do. We don’t want to go into motorbikes,” said Norliza, who is passionate about developing and redeveloping cities.
She also said the Bike4u programme may be extended to other cities including George Town, Melaka and Johor Bahru. It is estimated that there are 1,000 food delivery walkers in the country.
The Bike4u bicycle donation programme, initiated via a fundraising campaign involving private organisations and individuals, was first launched at the World Urban Forum 9 held three years ago in the capital city. It was refreshed this year focusing on the gig economy sector.
Micro-mobility joy
Foodpanda Malaysia logistics head Shubham Saran said the gift of folding bicycles has provided the food delivery fleet with an extra mode of transport and joy for customers.
“In 2019, we created additional employment opportunities (for walkers) other than the riders group. We used walkers within the fleet for close distance (of delivery) and after two years, we have 1,000 strong members.
"This is a huge potential for Urbanice to collaborate with the Foodpanda community,” he said at the virtual MOU signing ceremony with Urbanice Malaysia last week.
An urban think tank has donated folding bicycles to food delivery walkers to ease their work.
— TheVibes.com (@thevibesnews) August 10, 2021
Here are some pink walkers testing the folding bicycles at the Foodpanda riders hub in Southgate, Kuala Lumpur on August 4. pic.twitter.com/bxpY1N4sNa
“I am excited. We are looking at ways for sustainability and improving the environmental condition. This collaboration is an excellent effort in that direction. Our partnership with Urbanice sparked a lot of interest among our walkers in the Klang Valley.
Cycling is a great way for our pink walkers to increase their efficiency of delivery. We have walkers nationwide and we hope to grow this partnership with Urbanice to provide more riders with folding bicycles,” Shubham told The Vibes.
Urbanice is a think tank agency established in 2016 under the Housing and Local Government Ministry and the strategic partnership with Foodpanda is the second collaboration in the micro-mobility segment after an MOU was signed with a bike-sharing provider Beam Mobility Malaysia two months ago. – The Vibes, August 10, 2021
Shahrim Tamrim is a member of the board of directors of Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros).