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ABSTRACT
Today, a large share of cost, congestion, and emission in cities is attributed to light goods vehicles like carrier vans distributing to the last mile. The aim of many policy agendas is to reach cleaner cities with less disturbance from the distribution vehicles. Several suggestions have been put forward and tested in research and practice, such as access restrictions, multimodal transport, and use of cleaner vehicles. In this paper, we develop a case for a more sustainable freight distribution within cities using an ex ante case study. The idea of the mobile depot is built on the iteration between historical transitions within cities and contemporary developments in urban freight distribution, and then analyzed ex ante both quantitatively in calculations and qualitatively in two stakeholder workshops. The idea is integrated and multimodal, based on a mobile depot (e.g., a bus, truck, barge, or tram) that circles the city and connects to low emission last mile delivery options such as LEVs (Light Electrical Vehicles) or cargo bikes. We found that such a system can be environmentally and socially better for the city context, while maintaining economic viability above a certain utilization rate of the mobile depot for the transport operators.
Acknowledgments
Financial support by The Swedish Retail and Wholesale Development Council (Handelsrådet), Västra Götalandsregionen, as well as Vinnova (Mobil depå Diarienummer 2015–00266) has made this research possible and is gratefully acknowledged. We would also like to acknowledge the two master students, Stefanie Berninger and Sofie Farneman and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable input.
Notes
1 Drawn on environmental considerations, in the EU White paper (2011), it is recommended to move away from the use of conventionally fueled vehicles, encouraging the use of smaller and lighter vehicles, and integrating walking and cycling in urban transport and infrastructure design (ibid, p 8). “Large fleets of urban buses, taxis and delivery vans are particularly suitable for the introduction of alternative propulsion systems and fuels. These could make a substantial contribution in reducing the carbon intensity of urban transport while providing a test bed for new technologies and opportunity for early market deployment” (European Commission Citation2011, p 8).
2 Part of the economic and environmental calculation is previously published in a master thesis on this research project (see Berninger and Farneman, Citation2015).
3 From the standpoint of congestion, the gain is made by replacing × distribution vans with one freight bus and × smaller vehicles. The x = x relationship can be maintained by smaller vehicles being more agile in a city environment: The distributors (for instance, freight cycle operators) start their work day when they meet up with the bus in the morning and work for eight hours delivering, the distributors do not have go back and forth to the distribution center in rush hour in the morning and afternoon. They do not have to incur parking costs and fines and are not restrained by one-way streets to the same extent and can use shortcuts, like bike paths. They can also get a bit closer to where they have to deliver (often just outside the door), whereas a van driver usually has to walk a bit longer. They do, however, have to go back to the bus once a day to collect a new load unit. In general, the delivery speeds for the cycles and distribution vans are considered to be the same.