De Fietskoerier Utrecht — riding against loneliness

For around 20 years, the distinctive blue cargo bikes of De Fietskoerier Utrecht have been a familiar sight delivering packages on the streets of Utrecht. Now, the outfit has also set up a initiative to combat loneliness, especially among elderly people living alone, to whom they often deliver medicines.

It came about in January 2024, when Tobias Molenaar, a Partner at De Fietskoerier Utrecht, attended a meeting of Utrecht Omarmt (Utrecht Embraces), a local organisation which connects organisations to work against loneliness in the city; which in recent years has risen. During this meeting Tobias explained that, as couriers, they often come into contact with lonely Utrechters. This puts the couriers in a dilemma: they want to give attention and time to someone who needs it, but the other packages also need to be delivered and collected.

In addition, explained Molenaar, the margin for each delivery is low, making it impossible to run a financially healthy business and spend a lot of time on each delivery. Although De Fietskoerier Utrecht allows around three minutes per delivery, couriers frequently do not feel they have enough time to really help someone – simply by having a chat.

From the audience came a question: “What if I could give you money to allow a courier more time to have a chat?” After this meeting, De Fietskoerier Utrecht sat down with Utrecht Omarmt, the GeluksBV, Videobrouwers and the City of Utrecht. This resulted in a solution – a simple way to give lonely people just that extra bit of attention, and the campaign ‘De Fietskoerier Utrecht rides against loneliness‘.  The goal? If De Fietskoerier Utrecht can get some of their couriers’ hourly wages covered via this campaign, they can then schedule an extra hour into a bike courier’s route for that day; that’s enough time to give five people a little extra attention.

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Jos Sluijsmans, Director of the International Cargo Bike Festival, presented this and several other social initiatives by Dutch bike courier companies, including Velocity of Nijmegen, Groenbezorgen of Oss and Uden, and Velomedi, at the Nationale Fietscongres in Utrecht on 22nd May 2025.

Donate to, or find out more about De Fietskoerier Utrecht’s initiative against loneliness: https://www.defietskoerierutrecht.nl/verbinding/