Blog

Lost in Translation? Considering Overseas Freight Planning Designs through a North American Lens

URL: https://www.goodsmovement2030.com/post/strategies-for-freight-planning-from-overseas

Publication: Goods Movement 2030: An Urban Freight Blog

Publication Date: 2023

Summary:

At the spring Urban Freight Lab (UFL) meeting, members heard about four innovative approaches to planning streets so both people and goods can move more efficiently, safely, and sustainably. The catch? Europe is the only place most of these ideas have successfully scaled. So, how might these ideas translate or get adapted to a North American context as we look toward 2030?

In our last blog, we talked about an integrated freight and pedestrian approach Gothenburg, Sweden, has had on its streets for two decades. London, for its part, has had a low-emission zone (LEZ) for a decade and a half, with plans to expand its ultra-low-emission zone (ULEZ) in summer 2023. Meantime, in North American cities by and large we’re still figuring out how to pilot innovations — let alone roll them out on city streets in a big way.

And that’s no surprise, said Philippe Crist of the The International Transport Forum (ITF).

“Going from what is possible to what is actionable is going to be challenging in some instances, quite difficult in some instances, and in a handful of leading cities we’ll see some real progress,” Crist told UFL members. “And that’s OK because that’s how progress happens.”

So, what can we tackle first to make headway here? Ramp up modeling of innovative strategies, then test them on the street — much like the UFL has done with parcel lockers, a zero-emission last-mile delivery hub, and a first-of-its-kind real-time and forecasting curb parking app for commercial delivery drivers. Maybe that’s how we come up with a homegrown U.S. approach that works for our diverse physical and political landscape.

Here, we explore UFL member reflections to four innovative strategies presented and discussed at the spring meeting. We share overall reactions as well as questions and concerns raised about the challenges such strategies might face in a North American environment.

Authors: Urban Freight Lab

Recommended Citation:
“Lost in Translation? Considering Overseas Freight Planning Designs through a North American Lens.” Goods Movement 2030 (blog). Urban Freight Lab, May 15, 2023. https://www.goodsmovement2030.com/post/strategies-for-freight-planning-from-overseas.

Analysis of Parking Utilization Using Curb Parking Sensors (Task Order 10)

In a Department of Energy-funded project led by the Urban Freight Lab, a network of parking occupancy sensors was installed in a 10-block study area in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The study aimed at improving commercial vehicle delivery efficiency generating and providing real-time and future parking information to delivery drivers and carriers. This project will build upon the existing sensor network and the knowledge developed to explore how historical parking occupancy data can be used by urban planners and policymakers to better allocate curb space to commercial vehicles. The proposed project will use data from the existing sensor network and explore the relationship between the built environment (location and characteristics of establishments and urban form) and the resulting occupancy patterns of commercial vehicle load zones and passenger load zones in the study area.

Task 1 – Gather public data sources

Using public data sources (e.g. SDOT open data portal and Google Maps Places) the research team will obtain data on buildings and business establishments located in the Belltown study area (1st to 3rd Ave and Battery to Stewart Street). Data will include the location of business establishments, building height, land use, and estimates of the number of residents per building.

Task 2 – Analyze sensor data and estimate parking events

The research team will retrieve and process 1-year historical sensor data from the sensor network deployed in the study area. Sensor data is not directly usable as sensors are placed every 10 feet and a vehicle parking in a curb space might activate more than one sensor. Therefore, the research team will develop an algorithm that takes as input raw sensor data and gives as output estimate individual parking events, each consisting of a start time, curb space, and parking dwell time. The algorithm will be validated and algorithm performance will be reported.

Task 3 – Estimate parking utilization for each curb parking space

Using the estimated parking events obtained from task 2, the research team will analyze parking patterns and estimate total parking utilization for each curb parking space over time.

Task 4 – Design and perform an establishment survey

The research team will design an establishments survey to gather data on opening times, number of employees, type of business, and number of trips generated by business establishments in the study area. The survey will then be deployed and data will be collected for the business establishments in the study area. Descriptive statistics will be obtained characterizing the demand of freight trips generated by business type in the study area.

Task 5 – Analysis of parking utilization

The research team will perform statistical modeling to understand factors affecting curb space utilization in relationship with the location and characteristics of individual buildings and business establishments. The output of this effort is twofold: first, the analysis will obtain the factors that best explain the observed variability in curb parking demand, second, the analysis will obtain a model that can be used to predict future curb space demand.

Task 6 – Dissemination of findings and recommendations

A final report containing the result from the collection, processing, and analysis of the sensors data and establishment survey data will be drafted and published.

Expected outcomes

Descriptive time and spatial analysis of commercial vehicle load zone and passenger load zone utilization
Understand the impact of different establishments’ location and characteristics on commercial vehicle load zone and passenger load zone utilization
Discussion of policy implications for commercial vehicle load zones and passenger load zones allocation and time restrictions

Special Issue

The Curb Lane

URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/transportation-research-part-a-policy-and-practice/special-issue/10F7Q5183NN

Publication: Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice

Publication Date: 2021

Summary:

Efforts to regulate the curb also suffer from a lack of publicly accessible data on both the demand and supply of curb space. Cities often do not have the technical expertise to develop a curb data collection and data-sharing strategy. In addition, the private individuals and companies that generate most of the curb-use data often withhold them from public use to protect proprietary information and personal user data.

However, new uses of data sources, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) and cellular networks, as well as the implementation of wide networks of IoT devices, are enabling the “digitization” of the curb, allowing cities to gain a better understanding of curb use as well as ways to change their approach toward curb space management.

In a way, the revolution in curb space management has already started. Many cities are re-inventing their role from passively regulating on-street parking to dynamically allocating and managing the curb, both physically and digitally, to serve many different users. Geofencing and time-dependent allocation of curb space facilitate efficient passenger pickup and drop off. Parking information systems and pay-for-parking apps enable dynamic parking allocation and pricing. We believe this is the right time for scientific research to “catch up” with current changes and to develop new analytical tools for curb space management. Such efforts are the focus of this special issue on curb lane analysis and policy.

Authors: Dr. Anne GoodchildDr. Giacomo Dalla ChiaraDr. Andisheh Ranjbari, Susan Shaheen (University of California, Berkeley), Donald Shoup (UCLA)

Recommended Citation:
Special Issue: The Curb Lane. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier.

Paper

Providing Curb Availability Information to Delivery Drivers Reduces Cruising for Parking

Download PDF (2.03 MB)

URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23987-z

Publication: Scientific Reports

Volume: (2022) 12:19355

Publication Date: 2022

Summary:

Delivery vehicle drivers are experiencing increasing challenges in finding available curb space to park in urban areas, which increases instances of cruising for parking and parking in unauthorized spaces. Policies traditionally used to reduce cruising for parking for passenger vehicles, such as parking fees and congestion pricing, are not effective at changing delivery drivers’ travel and parking behaviors.

Intelligent parking systems that use real-time curb availability information to better route and park vehicles can reduce cruising for parking, but they have never been tested for delivery vehicle drivers.

This study tested whether providing real-time curb availability information to delivery drivers reduces the travel time and distance spent cruising for parking. A curb parking information system deployed in a study area in Seattle, Wash., displayed real-time curb availabilities on a mobile app called OpenPark. A controlled experiment assigned drivers’ deliveries in the study area with and without access to OpenPark.

The data collected showed that when curb availability information was provided to drivers, their cruising for parking time significantly decreased by 27.9 percent, and their cruising distance decreased by 12.4 percent. These results demonstrate the potential for implementing intelligent parking systems to improve the efficiency of urban logistics systems.

Authors: Dr. Giacomo Dalla ChiaraFiete KruteinDr. Andisheh RanjbariDr. Anne Goodchild

Recommended Citation:
Dalla Chiara, G., Krutein, K.F., Ranjbari, A. et al. Providing curb availability information to delivery drivers reduces cruising for parking. Sci Rep 12, 19355 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23987-z

Article

Giving Curb Visibility to Delivery Drivers

Download PDF (2.14 MB)

URL: https://issuu.com/apatransport/docs/2022_sotp/s/16021615

Publication: American Planning Association | 2022 State of Transportation Planning

Pages: 134-143

Publication Date: 2022

Summary:

At the time we are writing this article, hundreds of thousands of delivery vehicles are getting ready to hit the road and travel across U.S. cities to meet the highest peak of demand for ecommerce deliveries during Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and the Christmas holiday season. This mammoth fleet will not only add vehicle miles traveled through urban centers but also increase parking congestion, battling with other vehicles for available curb space.

While the integration of road traffic data with modern navigation systems has seen huge developments in the past decade, drastically changing the way we, and delivery vehicles, navigate through cities, not as much can be said when it comes to parking. The task of finding and securing parking is still left to drivers, and largely unsupported by real-time information or app-based solutions.

Delivery vehicle drivers are affected by curb parking congestion even more than any other driver because delivery drivers have to re-park their vehicles not once or twice, but 10, 20, or even more times during a delivery route.

Our work, discussed in this article, focuses on improving delivery drivers’ lives when it comes to finding available curb space, improving the delivery system, and reducing some of the externalities generated in the process. We first describe what types of parking behaviors delivery drivers adopt when facing a lack of available curb parking, then we will quantify the cost of lack of available parking, estimating how much time delivery drivers spend circling the block and searching for parking. We then discuss how we can improve on that by creating the first curb availability information system – OpenPark.

Authors: Dr. Giacomo Dalla ChiaraDr. Anne Goodchild

Recommended Citation:
Dalla Chiara, Giacomo and Anne Goodchild. Giving Curb Visibility to Delivery Drivers. Intersections + Identities: State of Transportation Planning 2022, 134-143.

Presentation

Can Real-Time Curb Availability Information Improve Urban Delivery Efficiency?

Download Slides PDF (1.16 MB)

URL: https://metrans.org/inuf_2022-papers_presentations

Publication: 9th International Urban Freight Conference, Long Beach, May 2022

Publication Date: 2022

Summary:

Parking cruising is a well-known phenomenon in passenger transportation, and a significant source of congestion and pollution in urban areas. While urban commercial vehicles are known to travel longer distances and to stop more frequently than passenger vehicles, little is known about their parking cruising behavior, nor how parking infrastructure affects such behavior.

In this study, we propose a simple method to quantitatively explore the parking cruising behavior of commercial vehicle drivers in urban areas using widely available GPS data, and how urban transport infrastructure impacts parking cruising times.

We apply the method to a sample of 2900 trips performed by a fleet of commercial vehicles, delivering and picking up parcels in downtown Seattle. We obtain an average estimated parking cruising time of 2.3 minutes per trip, contributing on average for 28 percent of total trip time. We also found that cruising for parking decreased as more curb-space was allocated to commercial vehicles load zones and paid parking and as more off-street parking areas were available at trip destinations, whereas it increased as more curb space was allocated to bus zone.

Authors: Dr. Giacomo Dalla ChiaraFiete KruteinDr. Anne Goodchild

Recommended Citation:
Giacomo Dalla Chiara, Klaas Fiete Krutein, and Anne Goodchild (2022). Can Real-Time Curb Availability Information Improve Urban Delivery Efficiency? 9th International Urban Freight Conference (INUF), Long Beach, CA May 2022.

Technical Report

Year One Progress Report: Technology Integration to Gain Commercial Efficiency for the Urban Goods Delivery System, Meet Future Demand for City Passenger and Delivery Load/Unload Spaces, and Reduce Energy Consumption

Download PDF (5.08 MB)

Publication: U.S. Department of Energy

Publication Date: 2019

Summary:

The objectives of this project are to develop and implement a technology solution to support research, development, and demonstration of data processing techniques, models, simulations, a smart phone application, and a visual-confirmation system to:

Reduce delivery vehicle parking seeking behavior by approximately 20% in the pilot test area, by returning current and predicted load/unload space occupancy information to users on a web-based and/or mobile platform, to inform real-time parking decisions
Reduce parcel truck dwell time in pilot test areas in Seattle and Bellevue, Washington, by approximately 30%, thereby increasing productivity of load/unload spaces near common carrier locker systems, and
Improve the transportation network (which includes roads, intersections, warehouses, fulfillment centers, etc.) and commercial firms’ efficiency by increasing curb occupancy rates to roughly 80%, and alley space occupancy rates from 46% to 60% during peak hours, and increasing private loading bay occupancy rates in the afternoon peak times, in the pilot test area.

The project team has designed a 3-year plan, as follows, to achieve the objectives of this project.

In Year 1, the team developed integrated technologies and finalized the pilot test parameters. This involved finalizing the plan for placing sensory devices and common parcel locker systems on public and private property; issuing the request for proposals; selecting vendors; and gaining approvals necessary to execute the plan. The team also developed techniques to preprocess the data streams from the sensor devices, and began to design the prototype smart phone parking app to display real-time load/unload space availability, as well as the truck load/unload space behavior model.

Authors: Urban Freight Lab

Recommended Citation:
Urban Freight Lab (2020). Year One Progress Report: Technology Integration to Gain Commercial Efficiency for the Urban Goods Delivery System.