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Urban Freight Lab

Research Topic: Sustainable Freight

Sustainable transportation refers to low- and zero-emission, energy-efficient, and affordable modes of transporting freight, including electric and alternative-fuel vehicles, as well as domestic fuels.

Presentation

Exploring the Sustainability Potential of Urban Delivery Microhubs and Cargo Bike Deliveries

 
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URL: https://metrans.org/inuf_2022-papers_presentations
Publication: 9th International Urban Freight Conference, Long Beach, May 2022
Publication Date: 2022
Summary:

Micro-consolidation implementations and pairing with soft transportation modes offer practical, economic, environmental, and cultural benefits. Early implementations of micro consolidation practices were tested but cities need to understand their implications in terms of efficiency and sustainability.

This study includes a research scan and proposes a typology of micro-consolidation practices. It focuses on assessing the performance of microhubs that act as additional transshipment points where the packages are transported by trucks and transferred onto e-bikes to complete the last mile.

The purpose of the study is to assess the performance of delivery operations using a network of microhubs with cargo logistics and identify the conditions under which these solutions can be successfully implemented to improve urban freight efficiencies and reduce emissions. The performance is evaluated in terms of vehicle miles traveled, tailpipe CO2 emissions, and average operating cost per package using simulation tools.

Authors: Şeyma GüneşDr. Anne Goodchild
Recommended Citation:
Şeyma Güneş and Anne Goodchild (2022). Exploring the Sustainability Potential of Urban Delivery Microhubs and Cargo Bike Deliveries. 9th International Urban Freight Conference (INUF), Long Beach, CA May 2022.
Paper

An Analytical Model for Vehicle Miles Traveled and Carbon Emissions for Goods Delivery Scenarios

 
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URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12544-017-0280-6
Publication: European Transport Research Review
Volume: 10
Publication Date: 2018
Summary:

This paper presents an analytical model to contrast the carbon emissions from a number of goods delivery methods. This includes individuals travelling to the store by car, and delivery trucks delivering to homes. While the impact of growing home delivery services has been studied with combinatorial approaches, those approaches do not allow for systematic conclusions regarding when the service provides net benefit. The use of the analytical approach presented here, allows for more systematic relationships to be established between problem parameters, and therefore broader conclusions regarding when delivery services may provide a CO2 benefit over personal travel.

Methods

Analytical mathematical models are developed to approximate total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and carbon emissions for a personal vehicle travel scenario, a local depot vehicle travel scenario, and a regional warehouse travel scenario. A graphical heuristic is developed to compare the carbon emissions of a personal vehicle travel scenario and local depot delivery scenario.

Results

The analytical approach developed and presented in the paper demonstrates that two key variables drive whether a delivery service or personal travel will provide a lower CO2 solution. These are the emissions ratio, and customer density. The emissions ratio represents the relative emissions impact of the delivery vehicle when compared to the personal vehicle. The results show that with a small number of customers, and low emissions ratio, personal travel is preferred. In contrast, with a high number of customers and low emissions ratio, delivery service is preferred.

Conclusions

While other research into the impact of delivery services on CO2 emissions has generally used a combinatorial approach, this paper considers the problem using an analytical model. A detailed simulation can provide locational specificity, but provides less insight into the fundamental drivers of system behavior. The analytical approach exposes the problem’s basic relationships that are independent of local geography and infrastructure. The result is a simple method for identifying context when personal travel, or delivery service, is more CO2 efficient.

Authors: Dr. Anne Goodchild, Erica Wygonik, Nathan Mayes
Recommended Citation:
Goodchild, Anne, Erica Wygonik, and Nathan Mayes. "An analytical model for vehicle miles traveled and carbon emissions for goods delivery scenarios." European Transport Research Review 10, no. 1 (2018): 8.