Dot Fennell_CargoB_Conversations with Erica_2025
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Coach Erica Mattison: Dorothy (Dot) Fennel is a Boston-based transportation planner, mom of three, and co-founder of CargoB. The nation's first on demand, electric cargo bike share. She believes simple human- scaled solutions like cargo bikes can make daily life easier and communities more connected. In our conversation, we talk about her leap into entrepreneurship, the promise of cargo bikes, and how they're reshaping neighborhood life.
Coach Erica Mattison: I am delighted to be joined by Dot Fennell today.
Dot Fennell: Morning. Thank you for having Erica.
Coach Erica Mattison: We're gonna be having a fun conversation that is going to be wide ranging, so let's dig right in. Dot will you tell us a little bit about what you're up to these days?
Dot Fennell: Can I go [00:01:00] hyper local and tell you what I was doing this morning?
Coach Erica Mattison: Oh, please do. This is an interesting story. I got the preview of it a few minutes ago.
Dot Fennell: Okay. So this is the reason why CargoB, the first electric cargo bike share in North America exists. I was on my way to you and I was riding through the beautiful Boston Emerald Necklace Park network, and I ran into a group of AmeriCorps workers that were with the, Boston Corps, I might get that name wrong, but they are in a 10 month training program to learn job skills related to facility management and forestry. And they were working today with our wonderful Emerald Necklace Conservancy, doing some cleanup work and invasive work and what became very clear to me as I was riding down the steep hill bike path was that they were all carrying, uh, five gallon buckets of tools.
Dot Fennell: I had a sense they were where they were going, and I knew it was a little far on foot and I also was riding my wheelbarrow and said, why don't you just put those into this and I [00:02:00] will take them to the location where they need to be.
Coach Erica Mattison: What is a wheelbarrow?
Dot Fennell: What is a wheelbarrow? So the vehicles that we use for CargoB is, they're called box feets, which translates from Dutch to box bike or bucket bike.
Dot Fennell: So you've probably seen these around your cities where you live. Maybe you have one yourself. They're a type of cargo bike. They are, uh, many times more increasingly have electric motor. So there's a pedal assist. Uh, some of them might have throttles. But what we have is a vehicle that is pedal assisted.
Dot Fennell: It looks like a regular bicycle in the back and in the front it literally just has a large bucket where you can just load up and go. It's like a cart. It's like it's literally a cart. It's like I, depending on my audience. I'll call it my rideable stroller. Someone told me they saw it as a mashup between a wheelbarrow and a Zipcar.
Dot Fennell: Uh, I'm here for all of the fun, uh, analogies that people come, come to me with, but [00:03:00] it really makes getting around. This park network that is a really special place in our city, and I'm sure there are numerous examples across our country and other cities. The way that we're able to have these park networks is because we don't have cars driving through them.
Dot Fennell: Uh, that being the case, we still need to move things in between this this park network. And so I saw biggest young people and I said, Hey, I have a tool for this. And they happily obliged because they had, were already five minutes into their walk, literally up a hill carrying garden tools. I dropped 'em off.
Dot Fennell: I came to you. And I was slightly late, so I apologize, but I was able to demonstrate that this is a real need in cities for a different vehicle type when it comes to being complementary to the kind of cities that we wanna build towards.
Coach Erica Mattison: Sometimes you have things you wanna carry or people you want to transport.
Coach Erica Mattison: Hmm. And maybe it's not a long [00:04:00] distance, but maybe there's a hill involved or maybe it's really windy. Yeah. Or maybe you're tired that day. Yeah. Or, or, or there could be so many reasons.
Dot Fennell: Yeah. Yeah. And it was funny because there's a bunch of young people who are probably in their twenties and they looked at me and they were about to say no.
Dot Fennell: Some of them were like, I really wanna do this because I don't wanna care this anymore. And I was like, I'm a mom. Don't argue with me. Put this in this bucket. Where are you going? I'll meet you there. I'm not gonna take your tools. And they were just like, okay, great. And then the job was done. So that's what CargoB does.
Dot Fennell: Granted we are not in fleet management for the parks, uh, but we do have vehicles parked throughout the Boston Metro area, which that includes Boston, Somerville, Cambridge, uh, we'll include soon Brookline, uh, I say Somerville, Medford, I mean all these cities that combined in town Arlington, uh, that make up the Boston Metro region.
Dot Fennell: And these vehicles are like any other mobility share, Zipcar or in our city Blue Bikes where the experience is the same. You [00:05:00] see a vehicle out in the open, you can walk up to it, you. It is tech enabled with a QR code that you scan with our CargoB app. The vehicle unlocks because you have an account, you use it, uh, when you are out on your trip and need to lock up.
Dot Fennell: It comes with an integrated cable chain that ties back into the smart lock, so you can lock it up. Then, uh, when you're done, you bring it back to the space where it lives. So we are a round trip or a to a service as opposed to typical or other bike shares that are A to B. So think of us more in terms of a Zipcar, where you have a location where you need to go.
Dot Fennell: You grab the vehicle, do your thing and bring it back, and then the minute that you lock it back up, it's available for the next neighbor to share who most likely is someone down the street from you.
Coach Erica Mattison: So it sounds like there was a need and you found a way to fill that need. Not just this morning. Yeah. But longer term.
Dot Fennell: Yes, very much so. Cargo bikes have been [00:06:00] a part of bike share schemes in many European cities going back, I believe, 10 years, possibly longer. But what I've seen so far has been 10 years, and that has.
Dot Fennell: And because of policy regulations, but also because of the desire of individuals to live life a certain way. And also I think it's in a response to the way that cities are planned in many European cities. That being said, more folks here in the US are consuming cargo bikes and it's a very booming sector of the bicycle market, and I think it really demonstrates that people are smart about wanting to solve their own problems and they're focusing on these short distance trips. 50% of our trips are under three miles and 30% are a mile less. So what CargoB is specifically focused on in creating this, these cities that are more livable and meet the climate goals and land use goals and economic development goals and [00:07:00] housing goals, 'cause they're all related to transportation, is, can we help people get out of their cars for these short distance trips for when they have to carry things?
Dot Fennell: Because that's one less vehicle that is not stuck in or creating congestion, which just has a domino effect of other factors that it contributes to pollution, noise, all the things that go with having to accommodate cars and cities, and we really believe that a lot of people would happily switch from being in their cars occasionally if they had access to the right tools to do that.
Coach Erica Mattison: What has it been like for you and your co-founder to build this business ?
Dot Fennell: We're a little over a year into it . Cargo bikes were something that were already a part of my own life.
Dot Fennell: I've had children for the past 12 years now. Because of my transportation background, I knew that what I needed when I started having children was not a different kind of car. For the city, what I needed was a different kind of bike, and I knew they [00:08:00] existed and they were increasingly becoming more available.
Dot Fennell: My business partner, Zack DeClerck, had also been someone who uses cargo bikes. We had been doing a series of test rides, just neighborhood meetups of our own, 'cause enough people would stop me constantly. The work I was doing was specifically talking to commuters most recently in Longwood Medical District, which is right around the corner, , which is a massive support to the economy and healthcare of our state and our region. It's a very small area that has a very big impact for all kinds of reasons. I would constantly talk to commuters who were very curious.
Dot Fennell: What I see in cities and how they're unfolding is that there's all these challenges and it can seem difficult to know where to start. What I can contribute is I know transportation policy. I know working with individual commuters and the choices that they make. I know these vehicles and I know that they do work and [00:09:00] have been a part of bike share in other cities, not in the US until now.
Dot Fennell: So, why not test them in Boston, which is a home of innovation, especially around transportation.
Dot Fennell: I'd love to hear more about your background in transportation and how you knew that these were even issues and opportunities.
Dot Fennell: I've been in Boston for just over 20 years. I have a master's in city planning, undergrad in urban development and in geography focused studies. And I have been someone who grew up in a multi-generational household with a grandmother from South Philly that moved to the suburbs who never learned to drive. I saw without being able to articulate it at a young age that the inability to navigate the suburbs was quite isolating. Uh, however, when I went with my grandmother downtown on the L on SEPTA system, she [00:10:00] was able to get around in a way that really lit her up in ways that we didn't see when we were back in the suburbs.
Dot Fennell: One of the main reasons why I learned to drive as a teenager was to transport my grandmother and my grandfather and their friends around. So when it came to being in Boston, I was attracted to work that was related to commuter trip planning and transportation for institutions as well as business districts.
Dot Fennell: And that's what I have been doing for the past uh, 20 ish years. I found it very rewarding because I see it as the building block of the, the larger success of a region. You have to be able to figure out how you're going to move the goods and services, whether that be the people or that be the items that they're using, or it be the knowledge base.
Dot Fennell: So that was what I was focused on. I was looking for more flexibility for my own [00:11:00] family, and I was looking to make more of an impact because I was seeing that there was this constant conversation about bicycles as tools, and I wanted to be a part of helping to normalize bicycles moving from things that we use for sport or things that are our last resort to being a vehicle that actually can unlock a lot of opportunity for the cities that we say that we wanna create and that we are creating.
Dot Fennell: That's how I came into really thinking critically about starting my own business with my co-founder.
Coach Erica Mattison: If I remember correctly, you and I met several years ago when we were both involved in transportation work. Me, as an activist and, you in your professional capacity. So, we go way back and it's been fun to watch the evolution of your work over these years.
Dot Fennell: Yeah, we connected, I think, through LivableStreets and then just being a part of the [00:12:00] transportation scene in Boston.
Dot Fennell: Boston in many ways is a very small city. When you get to know one person, then you're suddenly connected to a lot of folks. So it's great to see that we're both still here and still committed to this.
Coach Erica Mattison: Definitely, and we're part of this global movement of people working towards safer streets, healthier communities.
Coach Erica Mattison: How do you think about these issues?
Dot Fennell: I think about it a lot. I'm not here to say, "Everyone needs to put down their car keys, everyone suddenly needs to get onto the bus ..everyone suddenly needs to ride a bike." The answer here is, why don't we focus on the people who do wanna get out of their cars? Specifically for these short distance journeys and enable them to do so, and that when we do that sort of work and we create that place for them to do that, that there will be other benefits.
Dot Fennell: So if we have a city that is more open to pedestrianization and [00:13:00] walking, it also, in America's Walking City, could go a long way to help with everyday tourism, with everyday residents being able to navigate their lives, and that's what we're focused on. We're here for the solutions and we're here to support city government in building out that infrastructure so that we can have a place that is more inviting to other options so that people can see that there are other ways to get around our city.
Coach Erica Mattison: Having options. Making life easier. Creating more social opportunities as well, I think is one of the benefits. I know times when I'm biking, I tend to be much more social, um, engaging with my environment and those around me, versus when I'm in a car, for instance, or even on the T. When I'm using public transportation, most people are either having a conversation with somebody they're with or they are focused on their phones.
Dot Fennell: Yeah.
Coach Erica Mattison: When [00:14:00] you're on your bike, you tend to be more in tune with your surroundings. I find.
Dot Fennell: I think you're right about that, and I really appreciate all the spontaneous stops that I can make, and I tend to get excited by the next shiny thing. And so sometimes I have to rein it in because I'm like, oh, what's over here?
Dot Fennell: There are days during the school year when I'm picking up my kids because the radius that these children live within is three miles or less, and I would just be running into easily eight, 10 people within a two hour loop between school pickup and the grocery run and dropping off here.
Dot Fennell: You're able to have those tiny conversations that are more beneficial than having to text someone or track someone down. And you also see your neighbors, which I think is a really valuable benefit of cycling and pedestrian infrastructure.
Coach Erica Mattison: A few thoughts come to mind. One is around the notion of social cohesion. Thinking about communities that are tightly knit, where people [00:15:00] know each other and they look out for each other, and that is said to be one of the most important characteristics for communities to develop in the face of climate change and being more resilient to climate change and any types of disasters or major weather events that, that we might experience for people to have their neighbors phone numbers and be able to reach each other and check in on each other.
Coach Erica Mattison: I feel like what you're talking about is one of the ingredients that contributes to building that kind of social cohesion. I remember when I lived in Portland, Oregon and there was bike month, Pedal Palooza, and one of the most fun events I've ever been to in my whole life was this spontaneous bike ride.
Coach Erica Mattison: We had a meeting spot, so that part wasn't spontaneous. It was a gorgeous spring day. We basically rode around to different stops that we came up with more or less during the ride to go visit people's friends.[00:16:00]
Coach Erica Mattison: And we would pick up their friends along the way.
Coach Erica Mattison: We went with the flow and kept going from stop to stop for a few hours, and it was just so much fun .
Dot Fennell: Yeah, and it's these sort of, I like to call them spectacles because a lot of the work I was doing when I was doing the commuter transportation planning was to create the spectacle to bring you in.
Dot Fennell: So a, a fun, engaging event that would then help you because your guard is down and you're like, I get a burrito and I get a free bike tuneup. And by the way, you can tell me who do I talk to about my MBTA pass? So it's the ability to bring you in the social kind of way and then also engage you so that you know where your resources are. Those spectacles, are the building block of strong communities and people make connections that lead to other important conversations or whatever it may be.
Dot Fennell: Maybe someone meets up and they happen to have kids in the same afterschool activity [00:17:00] and they're able to coordinate, or maybe they meet someone who's a neighbor who happens to be somewhat isolated and now they know. It's these little connections that can have, like you said, really meaningful social cohesion for communities.
Coach Erica Mattison: There's this health aspect also. We spend so much time at our computers and, you know, in front of screens. So one of the things about this work that you're doing, this active mobility and micro mobility that I appreciate is gives people opportunities to build physical activity into their day without having to be like this separate activity.
Dot Fennell: We know that bicycling is good for heart health. We know it's good for your mental health. We know it's good for social cohesion. We know that when we have more space for bicycles or we make it a more inviting environment and we can decrease the amount of space we allocate for our roadways [00:18:00] there's less impervious surfaces that water can drain off.
Dot Fennell: Again, I talk about these domino effects.
Dot Fennell: One, I think of a lot as a parent, and that I'm seeing now as my children are approaching being teenagers. My oldest is 12, going on 13, is this concern around children and anxiety and isolation. I'm seeing kids who can barely cross the street because they're so glued to their phone or might not know how to navigate their neighborhood because their parents, uh, have to drive them everywhere because we've built our
Dot Fennell: cities over the last, let's call it 40 years to be more inhospitable to people who are not in a car. So what that means, and this is a good segue to the bike bus movement and the work that our friends like Megan and Sam are doing, is that mobility independence is really important for [00:19:00] people who are not able to drive.
Dot Fennell: In Boston right now, and in many states across our country, we hear these fights about bike lanes and folks will say, "well, I don't use 'em."
Dot Fennell: And it's like, okay, well someone might not use a bike lane and that's fine. However, we do design our roads to be very wide. In addition to making space for people on a scooter or sit down scooters, in a wheelchair, or kids, is that you lower the speed that people who are driving can go and you can decrease the amount of pedestrian car crashes or car and bicycle crashes, which is real challenge for many, many cities.
Dot Fennell: One more thing that you can do when you decrease the amount of space for cars is that you have more space for things like trees. You need a certain amount of space to plant trees to create the shade, which is a climate mitigation.
Dot Fennell: This is really the right tool for the job, so what can we do to help culture come along [00:20:00] to understand as they're able more and more at that.
Dot Fennell: There is a need to help our cities that once were very pedestrianized and very public transit oriented because cars have only been around for, let's call it 90 ish years in the way that we understand now that we can go back to that and there's some real serious reasons why we should be considering that.
Coach Erica Mattison: As you speak, Dot, I'm thinking about how the work that you're doing through your business is playing an important role to break down barriers, to increase access and to invite people into something that maybe previously didn't feel very feasible for them.
Dot Fennell: Yeah, I think that cargo bikes specifically are this new space for folks because in the US, compared to other places, we are relatively new to seeing them in the way that we do, uh, out on our streets and our neighbors are [00:21:00] consuming them.
Dot Fennell: The addition of electrical motors and assist has really been a tool to invite people back to cycling. And it's interesting conversation to watch because it gives people the ability to go further or gives them that.
Dot Fennell: Assists that they might not be able on their own power to be able to manage a bicycle the way that they used to. So I'm, I'm very much happy for that.
Dot Fennell: Specifically for cargo bikes and specifically the Bakfiets model that we use. we chose that because we wanted the one vehicle that you are least likely to purchase here in the US 'cause we know that the numbers are not as high as, say, maybe like a long tail, which is like the regular bike in the front and the regular on the back, but just has a little bit of like a, a, a platform you put kids or panniers on it. We really wanna nail the ability to simply load up a bucket and go . They can use it once or [00:22:00] twice a month, and our average is between an hour and a half and two hours. When you're done, you put it back. We found over the past year plus that people, as we thought, weren't buying, uh, the Bakfiets because of concerns around storage or maintenance or cost or concerns about for the price they were going to pay, how much they were actually going to use them. So that's why we were focused on this kind of cargo bike for CargoB.
Coach Erica Mattison: I'd love to hear more about how you made the shift into being self-employed, because I know for a lot of people that is an intriguing possibility, but also one that can feel terrifying or at least scary.
Dot Fennell: I am very fortunate to be a position to do that. The challenge with micro mobility and with starting CargoB was that we were the [00:23:00] first to do it. We have had to spend a lot of time trying to prove this concept, but we've made a lot of progress over the past year. And we have a number of meetings about more locations. One really big one that's just about to get going is working with the MBTA to put bicycles at MBTA stations. So there's a lot of interest in this.
Dot Fennell: Back to my ability to be an entrepreneur. I think that I would not have been able to do this in my thirties. I'm in my forties now and my family's in a place where we are more stable to be able to be on one salary and we have a timeline for when that will no longer be tenable. But for right now, that's what we're doing. And when I talk to other folks who have been in the entrepreneur space, they told us, and I had read that it really takes about three years to be profitable, but that we are on track, we're doing all things that we need [00:24:00] to do. It was a big shift to go from policy work and nonprofit work or city government work to starting off completely on my own. I had never started a business before.
Dot Fennell: There were just opportunities available as a woman owned business to get myself up to speed on what are the building blocks of starting a business, maintaining a business, and sustaining a business.
Dot Fennell: There are days when I wonder, what am I doing? And then I step back, take a deep breath and say, "okay, what do I need to solve today?" And I can segment what are problems for tomorrow? And I, just, uh, we are learning as we go. We're building the ship as we go but also we're really knocking it outta the park in 12 months.
Coach Erica Mattison: It's an incredible amount of growth and progress and learning for such a short period of time. What kind of advice would you give to somebody who's wanting to do something that feels [00:25:00] scary, something that's different? Maybe it's something that would challenge the status quo. Maybe it would tap into their, their skills and their experiences, but it would bring them in this new direction, perhaps launching their own business.
Coach Erica Mattison: Mm-hmm. What, what advice would you give them?
Dot Fennell: Had I not started CargoB, I probably would have done something more along the lines of continuing to make cargo bikes available in my community. I started the bike bus for my school.
Dot Fennell: I stay engaged in my community with city government through city planning meetings. And I think what it comes down to is knowing what your passion is and focusing on that, but also tapping into the resources that are available to entrepreneurs.
Dot Fennell: Boston has an amazing network of Main Street organizations that support small businesses, whether they are a brick and mortar [00:26:00] or they operate in some other fashion.
Dot Fennell: There's grant opportunities. There is also a support network as a woman-owned business. I bet someone who's listening to this has an idea that's worthwhile and if you don't do it, no one else is gonna do it... like city government could not make CargoB happen.
Dot Fennell: There's too many barriers to it. They want it. We get called by city governments across the country constantly asking how they can stand up something like this in their own cities, but they don't have the capacity to build a program like this out in this kind of way. So what I do for transportation, guaranteed, someone right now, who's one of your listeners, has that same practical idea that simply has not been brought to the table yet. Explore it and whether or not it turns into a business, find some way to contribute. [00:27:00] Because again, when I step back and I say, there's all these challenges that we're facing in a larger society, well, what can I do on a local level?
Dot Fennell: Here's what I can do. Here's what I know and here's how I can contribute. And at the end of the day, that's, that's the thing that I find rewarding. Is shaping up that CargoB is turning into a standup business and we are getting contracts. I say go for it. I don't know if I would've had that same gut intuition in my thirties but I have it now and I say, do it.
Dot Fennell: What do you have to lose? You're only going to learn from that experience that somewhere down the line is going to contribute to your life personally or professionally.
Coach Erica Mattison: How did you connect with your co-founder?
Dot Fennell: We're neighbors. And we have kids the same age.
Dot Fennell: Zach and his family, his wife is a traffic engineer, so we were in that world together and I think just saw 'em around it. When it comes to the bike community, you just have your hey [00:28:00] guys and your hey gals and hey people, and you just see them over and over again .
Dot Fennell: You're able to stop and chat with people. We're neighbors. We're both interested in city issues .
Dot Fennell: You found that you had these common interests and probably complimentary skill sets or areas of expertise, and so you were able to come together and, and create this beautiful thing together. So I think that's pretty neat.
Dot Fennell: Yeah. We were, while there were folks in Cambridge who were hosting cargo bike meetups, Zach and I realized enough people in Jamaica Plain and Roslindale and Brookline might not be able to get all the way over to Cambridge, they certainly have the same exact questions. They stop us all the time separately on the Southwest Corridor. What do we have to lose? Let's set up next to the playground in Franklin Park and bring some animal crackers and juice boxes and kids can play and families we invited, if you have a cargo bike show up.
Dot Fennell: If you have questions about cargo bike show up. Then [00:29:00] we created the space and people connected on their own. The challenge is with cargo bike shopping, different shops deal different brands, and so you might have to go to, let's call it five different shops to try five different bikes.
Dot Fennell: And you might get somebody who might not have the time dedicate to all the questions you might have. Whereas if you can go to the park and your kids are playing on a playground, you can talk to somebody who's in your shoes as a parent who has the exact same questions or has lived through it, and so you can just have those more relaxed conversations rather than feeling rushed. And also you get to go to the playground.
Coach Erica Mattison: So these events that you're bringing people together, people get to ask questions. Mm-hmm. They get to raise their awareness about the options and it can you know, demystify things for people. I remember going to one of the events that you organized at a local park and I was so excited that there was something going on there to activate the space to bring people [00:30:00] together.
Coach Erica Mattison: There were food trucks and there were, you know, different businesses participating and there was information for people. It was this lovely community event and I think that we all can use more of those kinds of opportunities, especially close to home, a five or 10 minute walk from home. That's amazing to have.
Coach Erica Mattison: And you know, you mentioned a few other things as you were sharing earlier about the Emerald Necklace. Mm-hmm. My parents have been activists on the Emerald Necklace, which is the local park system in Boston and Brookline for around 50 years. Mm-hmm. So together they have around a hundred years of, of contribution to our local park system, and it's such a treasure. It has not always been the way that it is. It was falling into disrepair when I was a child. It was not a lovely place to be much of the time. It was overgrown and not very clean and there were roads cutting right through some of the parks. [00:31:00] It has changed a lot over the years as a result of advocacy, not only for capital investments, but also maintenance, staffing and programming and tree care and all of these kinds of things that make a wonderful park system. So the Emerald Necklace is, is near and dear to me and it's wonderful to see businesses like yours that are able to really open it up to people in a new way.
Dot Fennell: Yeah. Having outdoor public space is wonderful. And having a city that's not full of people who are in their cars, who are angry and white knuckling and honking their horns is wonderful. We need to move towards less dependence on individual car usage for short distance strips. As we do that, we need to have solutions that are really low barrier to entry. Boston has a lot of work that they do around enabling people to purchase electric bikes with rebates, [00:32:00] and they do a lot of work on building out their bicycle network. One thing that we're working on right now with the city is we're going to do a pilot for city employees to put a CargoB bicycle on City Hall Plaza. It's for the exclusive use of city employees so they have their own fleet, which we're gonna help them manage. This is the sort of leadership that cities can do when they have to get off site of city hall for meetings, need to haul things. They have some sort of compact car, but the reality is, is that it's probably not economical, constantly paying for Lyfts and Ubers. What are ways that they can help their employees do their work?
Coach Erica Mattison: That's an exciting initiative. What else do you see coming up?
Dot Fennell: The main goal is to be a part of normalizing cargo bikes for everyday trips, whether it be for City of Boston employees, or it be an average [00:33:00] consumer, or it be working alongside boston neighborhoods and districts. We're about to launch two vehicles in the Seaport, and that's a part of the city where there's a, a combination of living, working, tourism. There's one grocery store, and if you are in Boston, you know it's not easy to drive in Seaport.
Coach Erica Mattison: I was actually a part of helping to get some protected bike lanes in the Seaport with my friend Yanni Tsipis at WS Development. It's really exciting that there are gonna be cargo bikes there.
Dot Fennell: Yeah. Yanni's team has been fantastic. I think that they really get it that there, there needs to be a balance of the ways to get the people and the things through the district.
Dot Fennell: So that's happening. I mentioned the MBTA that's in the pipeline. We have a vehicle over at Harvard University, and we're working on ramping up for the fall. That's geared towards the [00:34:00] facilities and staff at the moment. That being said, the vehicle is used by the neighborhood as well.
Coach Erica Mattison: I can see this being very useful for universities, having spent most of my career working in higher ed in urban settings for the most part. Having worked at Suffolk University, Boston University ,teaching at the Mount Ida campus of UMass Amherst this fall, I can see where these kinds of campuses, Northeastern University, I mean the list goes on in terms of the schools in the area I can think of that could benefit from this as a tool.
Coach Erica Mattison: When I worked in sustainability in higher education, we were looking at opportunities like this to reduce the miles traveled in those vans and trucks. There are so many benefits to it. A lot of employees would rather hop on an e-bike to go down the street to, to move some items as opposed to dealing with the truck or the van or what [00:35:00] have you, the SUV, whatever it might be. So many benefits the --saved time, the saved money, the example it sets for others, the social aspects to it. On and on and on.
Dot Fennell: Yeah. It's one of these things that I think about a lot -- we could spin our wheels out thinking about the very complicated solutions to challenges, and sometimes we just need to go back to brass tacks and to think about what is the easiest thing to deploy. That's the most practical, that is applicable to the most amount of people in this case, transportation. It's. A bicycle, whether it be providing City of Boston, the metro area, blue Bikes, or it be working with a company like CargoB to provide that additional cargo capacity.
Dot Fennell: It's just a very practical, easy thing to deploy that [00:36:00] again, knocks out a lot of the challenges that we're faced with. Hopefully in upcoming months we can announce some more locations with university partnerships.
Coach Erica Mattison: Well, it's wonderful to hear that you are working on all of these partnerships and bringing this solution to so many different settings. I can't wait to have you back so we can get an update and learn about how things are going. Thanks for being here and, uh, kudos to you for getting this going and seeing it through.
Coach Erica Mattison: It's really inspirational and, it's bringing so much joy and also ease into people's lives. So keep it up.
Dot Fennell: Thank you. Yeah, happy to do it.
