In the Media

Anne Goodchild: “We could have a delivery system that is compatible with the way we want our communities to look, and feel, and sound, and run.”

The delivery hub in Seattle’s Uptown neighborhood is a pilot program using zero operating-emissions technology to test new vehicles, delivery models and other technologies to help accelerate the development and deployment of sustainable last-mile solutions.

The pilot, slated to run through midsummer, is taking place in Seattle’s Uptown neighborhood. Located between Elliott Bay and Lake Union, Uptown is home to the Space Needle. Anne Goodchild, founding director of the Supply Chain Transportation and Logistics Center, noted the area is highly constrained due to “hills and water all around.”

A recent report by the University of Washington Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics Center estimated that 25-50% of transportation supply chain costs are driven by the last phase of delivery, or the “final 50 feet”.

BrightDrop, a new business from Detroit’s General Motors Co., has partnered with the University of Washington Urban Freight Lab, the Seattle Department of Transportation, REEF, Coaster Cycles, and AxleHire to launch a zero-emission last-mile delivery pilot in Seattle’s Uptown neighborhood.

The delivery hub in Seattle’s Uptown neighborhood is a pilot program using zero operating-emissions technology to test new vehicles, delivery models and other technologies to help accelerate the development and deployment of sustainable last-mile solutions.

Using zero operating emissions technologies, the Seattle Neighbourhood Delivery Hub allows last-mile solutions providers to more quickly and efficiently test new vehicles and models.

The proposal “is totally doable” from an engineering perspective, said Anne Goodchild, founding director of the Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics Center at the University of Washington.

By Fleet Forward Staff
BrightDrop has collaborated with the University of Washington’s Urban Freight Lab, the City of Seattle, and tech and delivery companies AxleHire, Coaster Cycles, and REEF, a delivery kitchen, to launch one of the nation’s first zero operating-emissions, last-mile neighborhood delivery hubs, they announced in a news release. 

Pilot project will test technologies, zero-emission vehicles in delivering food and parcels.
 

BrightDrop has collaborated with the University of Washington’s Urban Freight Lab (UFL), The City of Seattle, and tech and delivery companies, AxleHire, Coaster Cycles and REEF, to launch one of the nation’s first zero operating-emissions, last-mile neighborhood delivery hubs.  

Seattle’s first neighborhood delivery hub is now live.

“I’m convinced the transportation and logistics center has embraced and accepted the idea that electrification and sustainability are part of their future — that’s not a controversial statement in any way,” says Anne Goodchild.

“Now you’ve got this floodgate of demand — not only because people are sick of being in their house but also because people have saved twice as much money,” Bill Keough said.

Anne Goodchild is experimenting with a parking app, common carrier lockers, and microhubs to reduce that time – and thus reduce congestion. Preliminary results suggest the lockers alone could cut drivers’ time in a building by 35% to 75%.