9 a.m. on a Saturday morning in Mondeville in the agglomeration of Caen. Friends are there, coffee too. Everything looks like a classic move except that Mickaël and Sophie have used electric bicycles to transport furniture and trinkets. Mickaël defines himself as a daily cyclist and a cycling activist. He is also the deputy mayor in charge of the ecological transition at the Town Hall of Mondeville but his functions have nothing to do with this choice of move. It seemed important to them to try this experiment.
“Obviously, I hasten to point out that this is not possible for everyone, Michael concedes. You can’t do that when you move from a region or a city. We were able to do this because we move in the same town – this is the case for 30% of moves almost every year in France – and there is Toutenvélo, a company that does urban bike logistics. It just takes a little longer.”
Toutenvélo defines itself as a last-mile logistics cooperative with the idea of removing cars in the city center and replacing them with bicycles with trailers. It has employed ten people in Caen since 2017 and also works in Rouen and Le Havre. Moving is not its main activity but it provides four to five per year in the Caen conurbation.
“It’s more something to make an impression because it’s bound to be more impressive for people if they see convoys of bicycles passing by with fridges, washing machines, sofa beds, explains Vincent mischievously. He has been an employee and partner for two years at Toutenvélo. We pull up to 300 kilos with our trailers. It has to make sense and be realistic. Doing a move over ten kilometers becomes too long in terms of coming and going and loading and unloading. We are a real plus for inter-district moves, in a city center.”
Moving around by bike has a playful side. Among the friends who came to lend a hand, Guillaume tested the electrically assisted bicycle with 300 kilos of load behind him over the two km course.
“You have to find your balance and once it’s done, it’s good esteem William but we feel that it grows. For climbs, there is still good electric assistance. It’s funny.”
This method of moving also requires a little more time. In terms of cost, it takes thirty euros per hour per mover accompanied by his electric bike and his platform.