Colruyt commits to shared mobility

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

From today, cambio and Poppy users can pick up shared cars and electric cargo bikes at the car park of the Colruyt store in Etterbeek, at the Graystraat. It is the first time that Poppy and cambio are present In the same zone and that electric cambio cargo bikes can be rented there. For some months now, Colruyt has been working together successfully with cambio and Poppy in different cities. For Colruyt Lowest Prices, the initiative contributes to the store chain's objective of encouraging sustainable mobility for customers.

Shared cars and cargo bikes at Colruyt car park

The car park of the Colruyt store in Etterbeek will get a mobility hub: 4 Poppy cars, 2 cambio cars and 3 electric cambio cargo bikes will be given a fixed spot on the car park. Customers can rent the cars and bicycles to do their weekly grocery shopping and local residents will have several additional options for shared mobility. Jean Christophe Burlet, regional director at Colruyt Lowest Prices: "More and more often, customers in the city come to the store by foot or by bicycle. Customers come to Colruyt for their weekly grocery shopping or for groceries for a special moment, such as a party. And that is not always evident on foot or by bicycle. That is why we want to offer our customers the opportunity to pick a customised means of transport when they need it."

Elke Van den Brandt, minister of Mobility, Public Works and Road Safety in Brussels : "Many families would like to be able, for practical or financial reasons, to do without a personal car. However, some journeys, such as big shopping trips or long journeys with children, may discourage them. They already had the shared cars of Cambio and Poppy, and now Cambio users will be able to use the brand new cargo bikes. This will allow more families to have a real choice in how they travel. Thanks also to Colruyt for its involvement in the community and for providing parking spaces for these vehicles. »

In total there are, with these cars included, more than 700 cambio cars and 400 Poppy cars present in the Brussels-Capital region.

Sustainable city mobility

Jean Christophe Burlet, regional director at Colruyt Lowest Prices: "Sustainable mobility is high on the agenda at Colruyt Lowest Prices and we also want to take our responsibility for this. This includes the transport of our products, the journeys of our co-workers and the journeys of our customers to and from our stores. For example, we made our stores more bicycle-friendly by providing spacious bicycle parking spots and we take care of charging stations for electric cars on our car parks. By also offering shared cars at several of our car parks, together with Poppy and Cambio, we are taking another step towards sustainable mobility for our customers."

Colruyt Lowest Prices has been working together with Poppy and cambio for a few months now. For example, there are cars on the car parks of several Colruyt stores, among others in Ghent, Ostend and Kortrijk. And with success: the cars have a degree of occupation of 40%, which is more than 10% higher than the average occupation degree of cambio cars in Flanders. The users are Colruyt customers that do their groceries with the cars, local residents for whom the station is nearby, and Colruyt co-workers who also use the cars.

Colruyt, cambio and Poppy join forces for this cooperation in order to contribute to more sustainable urban mobility.

Cambio and Poppy

Frédéric Van Malleghem, director of cambio Brussels: "Cambio has been at the heart of shared mobility since more than 20 years and in its search for partners for its electric cargo bike project, cambio has received an enthusiastic welcome from Colruyt. We are proud of the work done in collaboration with Colruyt: the provision of a rich palette of shared mobility in the same area, in close proximity to homes and public transport."

Cambio is active in Brussels, Flanders, and Wallonia. In Brussels, cambio has more than 700 shared cars, spread across 230 stations. 92% of the cambio users in Brussels have a station available within a radius of 1 kilometre. Customers always have a customised car available, because cambio has several cars in its assortment, from small city cars to vans.

Nick Van den Eynde, Head of Operations Poppy: "Offering car share users extra parking options is a great example of putting the accessibility of car sharing in the spotlight. This cooperation with Colruyt combines the ease of easy parking with the practicality of carefree shopping, an added value for every car share user. "

Poppy is active as a multimodal player in Brussels, Antwerp, and Mechelen with 700 shared cars, 550 shared steps, 20 shared delivery vans, and plans to double this fleet by the beginning of 2023. In addition, Poppy provides reserved parking spots at the major Belgian airports (Zaventem, Charleroi, Antwerp) and customers can end a ride in another city free of charge. In Brussels more than 400 Poppy-cars are available.