Genesis
Remorquable originates from the desire of a groupe of friends studying environmental management and spatial planning to encourage active mobility in Brussels by making available trailers that could be borrowed by registered members on collaborative economy principles.
Inspired by the concept of Tournevie, the Brussels tool library, our service wants to share expensive, bulky and sporadically used equipment, of which the individual acquisition is not necessary in most cases.
Our position
The aim of our service is to offer a realistic alternative to the use of car for the transport of loads in the majority of everyday life situations.
Our project is comes from a desire of solidarity and we ensure that it is accessible to everyone, especially through adapted rates. We do not claim nor want to become to become the new Uber or Villo of trailers. Our service is intended to be ethical and respectful of the privacy of our members. We don’t sell private data to advertisers or do major fundraisers. Therefore, our service does not seek to be as flexible as others: it will not be possible to borrow a trailer at a point A and bring it back to a point B, just as it will not be possible to drop it off anywhere on the street so that a worker who is probably poorly paid comes and picks it up and brings it back elsewhere.
We made the choice to rely on the responsibility of our members rather than encouraging the logic of easiness based on questionable subcontracting. Rather, it is the users who take care of the shared equipment, and ensure that it is returned to its proper location.
Remorquable doesn’t claim to be a solution to the present and future social and ecological disasters, but a small link, a piece of answer, a note, a step in a less harmful and more emancipatory direction. We are convinced that every contribution is necessary to imagine and design a world beyond the car – that is, our addiction to fossil fuels.
This is why we develop complementary services to the Trailer Library: long-term rental and autonomous pick-up locations. Our aim is to find formulas that will cater to different needs while reaching a wider audience.
Moreover, we are also looking to explore cycling possibilities and to prove through practice that many activities could be developed on bicycle trailers. For now, a bike workshop trailer and a mobile kitchen. We also seek to transmit the know-how around the manufacture of trailers and to organize meetings and awareness events. Our goal is to participate in a cultural reversal through the dissemination of DIY emancipatory practices, in order to promote the emergence of cycling as an alternative to the individual car. You can follow our two-wheeled adventures via the news tab or on our Facebook page.
Perspectives
Développer des alternatives au transport fossile
In the fight against air pollution and to reduce road congestion in the streets of the capital, Remorquable has been offered the opportunity to join the project “Cairgo Bike”, supported by the European subsidy “Urban Innovative Action” to develop a Brussels action plan to improve air quality. As you will have understood, the goel is to develop alternatives to fossil transport in Brussels, for companies as well as individuals, by encouraging the use of bicycle-cargo and bicycle trailers.
In this context, our department becomes professionalized and benefits from significant means to undertake a change of scale. The quantitative objective is to produce at least 50 new trailers by June 2023, which will be distributed among at least 15 new pick-up antennas throughout the Brussels region. Beyond the figures, our will is to contribute to a positive social change on the Brussels territory, whether by maintaining accessible rates so that the price isn’t an obstacle or by supporting various dynamics involved through the loan of bicycle trailers to simplify their logistics. We are always wondering how to make our service accessible to the most disavantaged part of the population, who often do not benefit from the incentive policies deployed in recent years.
