Exploring Benefits of Cargo-Cycles versus Trucks for Urban Parcel Delivery under Different Demand Scenarios
Name
0361198120917162.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.39 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
5232c9dd349ae39af1945f42ffdfd6b1
Author(s)
Dalla Chiara, Giacomo
Alho, André Romano
Cheng, Cheng
Ben-Akiva, Moshe
Cheah, Lynette
Date Issued
May 2020
Journal
Transportation Research Record
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Citation
Dalla Chiara G, Alho AR, Cheng C, Ben-Akiva M, Cheah L. Exploring Benefits of Cargo-Cycles versus Trucks for Urban Parcel Delivery under Different Demand Scenarios. Transportation Research Record. 2020;2674(5):553-562
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Transportation Research Board 2020. Urban deliveries are traditionally carried out with vans or trucks. These vehicles tend to face parking difficulties in dense urban areas, leading to traffic congestion. Smaller and nimbler vehicles by design, such as cargo-cycles, struggle to compete in distance range and carrying capacity. However, a system of cargo-cycles complemented with strategically located cargo-storing hubs can overcome some limitations of the cargo-cycles. Past research provides a limited perspective on how demand characteristics and parking conditions in urban areas are related to potential benefits of this system. To fill this gap, we propose a model to simulate the performance of different operational scenarios—a truck-only scenario and a cargo-cycle with mobile hubs scenario—under different delivery demand and parking conditions. We apply the model to a case study using data synthesized from observed freight-carrier demand in Singapore. The exploration of alternative demand scenarios informs how demand characteristics influence the viability of the solution. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis clarifies the contributing factors to the demonstrated results. The combination of cargo-cycles and hubs can achieve progressive reductions in kilometers-traveled and hours-traveled up to around densities of 150 deliveries/km2, beyond which savings taper off. Whereas the reduction in kilometers-traveled is influenced by the the carrying capacity of the cargo-cycle, the reduction in hours-traveled is related to to the cargo-cycle ability to effectively decrease the parking dwell time by reducing, for instance, the time spent searching for parking and the time spent walking to a delivery destination.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Singapore-MIT Alliance in Research and Technology (SMART)
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198120917162
