As part of the Molo Hubs project, representatives from Bergen Municipality recently travelled to Amsterdam to learn from the city's innovative approach to urban logistics in historic city centres.
The main focus of the visit was Amsterdam's "Park + Switch" pilot – a concept where service technicians and tradespeople can park their vans at the edge of the city centre and switch to a light electric vehicle – such as an e-bike, scooter, or micro car – for the final leg of the journey to their customer. Amsterdam faces a significant challenge: 30,000 vans and 4,000 trucks enter the city daily, contributing to congestion, noise, and emissions.
"We learned a lot about the opportunities and challenges associated with the pilot. This kind of knowledge exchange, where one city gains experience others can learn from, helps us identify the right measures faster and with higher precision, says Anders Waage Nilsen, urban logistics developer in the Municipality of Bergen."
Key questions include pricing models, user experiences and potential impacts – and questions related to governance, operating models and the role of the municipality related to private operators.
The dialogue with Amsterdam also opened broader discussions about logistical management in dense, historic city centres – challenges Bergen knows all too well.
The insights from Amsterdam will feed into Bergen Municipality's ongoing work on developing the network of mobility hubs, that today mainly combine micro mobility, waste management, EV charging and car pooling services. The visit forms part of a wider European knowledge exchange on how to make urban freight transport cleaner, smarter, and more future-ready.
Source: Municipality of Bergen
