Excuse me, can my parcel sit there?

Hugh Frost’s ‘Freight Bus’ concept uses double-decker buses to carry parcels, as well as passengers. His simple idea would mean that during quiet periods, when buses are often travelling empty, they would double up as delivery vehicles.

Inspired
The concept came about when Hugh, who runs a landscape design business, read about Transport for London’s (TfL) competition last year to design a replacement for its old Routemaster double-decker buses. He was working on designs for a new flower vending machine at the time, and it was the vending mechanism that inspired his bus idea.

“I realised how useful the ‘vending arm’ would be as a picking system for parcels – letting you pick up parcels from inside the vehicle and deposit them at a convenient entrance, without the need to climb in and out or unload other goods to get to them. When I heard about TfL’s competition, I realised it could be a perfect application for the technology,” says Hugh.

Although he did not win the competition, which received more than seven hundred entries, his Freight Bus concept attracted attention from mobility groups like Green Car Congress, which praised it for its innovation.

Collect and drop off
The system would combine specially-designed greener buses – fully equipped with a specialist electric lifting and picking mechanism – with an infrastructure of collection and delivery points on existing bus routes. Hugh points out that it would also be possible to convert existing buses.

Goods would be collected from a consolidation centre, and there would be drop-off points at a number of bus stops. The fully automated picking system would use bar codes to identify packages and their destinations, digitally alerting the driver when a stop needs to be made. It would then select the appropriate consignment, and deposit it in a special receiver at the appropriate stop, where it could be collected in person using a PIN system. In the same way, parcels could be posted at the drop-off points.

“The system could work with existing freight consolidation schemes, so they could operate from the same collection depots, which would ideally be on city outskirts, near a ‘park and ride’ terminal,” explains Hugh.

Configurations
He continues: “The Freight Bus is totally flexible, and during peak times would operate at full passenger capacity, carrying no goods. But during quieter hours, there are a number of possible configurations that allow freight and passengers to travel on board.”

Green fingers
Working with a team of engineering and technology consultants under the name On Route, Hugh has designed a bus that incorporates the very latest low-carbon technologies – proving he has green

fingers outside of the garden. It uses hub motors, which have no transmission, gearbox or axles and so eliminate a considerable amount of weight, and an all-electric (battery or fuel cell) or hybrid powering system, which can be upgraded according to new advances in technology.

Free travelling
But according to Hugh, even without its cutting-edge, green credentials, the Freight Bus would achieve significant CO2 reductions, simply by removing delivery vehicles from the roads.

“There’s clearly a very neat fit, to put freight into the same capital infrastructure as passenger transport, the same labour cost infrastructure, and the big one: the same carbon emissions infrastructure,” he explains. “Even without the more efficient bus, the system would mean that, in terms of CO2, the freight is travelling for free.”

Eager
On Route is currently seeking investment and is eager to work with interested businesses. More information and full specification details can be found at www.onroutebus.co.uk.