Recent changes in passenger and freight mobility, such as growing urbanisation trends and the diffusion of e-commerce, exacerbate negative impacts in terms of congestion, safety, the environment, and quality of life (EC, 2020). The first and last miles (FLM) are considered to be critical legs of the transportation of passengers and goods owing to their high operational costs and impact on both natural and anthropic environments (Macioszek, 2018). In the context of FLM, mobility and logistics manage relevant issues in both dense urban cores and low-density rural or peri-urban areas. Urban operations pose additional challenges, such as competition for space among different users; uncoordinated operations; and restricted time windows, all generating impacts that can be negatively perceived by the urban community (Nocera et al., 2021), in a vicious circle that worsens the performance of transport operations with the contextual increase in traffic congestion as well as air and noise emissions. Currently, the movement of urban goods accounts for 20–30% of the total vehicle kilometres within metropolitan areas, and policy-makers and operators are struggling to improve operational efficiency while mitigating externalities (Rodrigue and Dablanc, 2021). To reduce the impact of urban logistic operations, authorities and decision-makers have formulated policies and regulations. Examples of promoted policies include reducing (or favouring, according to context) night time operations, dedicating idling spaces to freight vehicles, limiting operations to specific time windows during the daytime (such as off-peak morning hours) or to specific vehicles (such as zero-emission vehicles), and adopting taxation or incentives to regulate the sector (Savelsbergh and van Woensel, 2016). However, these policies are often uncoordinated and result in minor or counterproductive effects (Nocera et al., 2021). This chapter presents urban mobility and logistics challenges with reference to FLM operations and indicates strategies that have been pursued with little or no positive results. This is followed by a discussion on an innovative paradigm for integrating passenger and goods transportation, which is referred to as “Cargo Hitching” (van Duin et al., 2019) or “Integrated Passenger Freight Logistics” (Bruzzone et al., 2021a) in previous literature, according to a concept that was first presented by the European Commission (EC) in its Green Paper on Urban Mobility (EC, 2007). Responding to the needs and indications of authorities, the EC suggested how a strong integration can improve mobility, logistics efficiency, and sustainability (from environmental, operational, and socioeconomic perspectives) while promoting a socially acceptable approach. The basic principles and best practices of integrated passenger-freight transport (IPFT) for FLM are presented in this chapter to explore the origins and the potential of the concept. Finally, drivers for both their success and failure are discussed, focusing on achievable operational, environmental, and socioeconomic benefits as well as on the main constraints that currently interfere with the promotion of the management of the mobility system as an entirety, with a particular emphasis on operative and normative/regulatory limits.
Integrating Freight and Passenger Transport for Urban Logistics
Nocera, Silvio
;Bruzzone, Francesco;Cavallaro, Federico
2023-01-01
Abstract
Recent changes in passenger and freight mobility, such as growing urbanisation trends and the diffusion of e-commerce, exacerbate negative impacts in terms of congestion, safety, the environment, and quality of life (EC, 2020). The first and last miles (FLM) are considered to be critical legs of the transportation of passengers and goods owing to their high operational costs and impact on both natural and anthropic environments (Macioszek, 2018). In the context of FLM, mobility and logistics manage relevant issues in both dense urban cores and low-density rural or peri-urban areas. Urban operations pose additional challenges, such as competition for space among different users; uncoordinated operations; and restricted time windows, all generating impacts that can be negatively perceived by the urban community (Nocera et al., 2021), in a vicious circle that worsens the performance of transport operations with the contextual increase in traffic congestion as well as air and noise emissions. Currently, the movement of urban goods accounts for 20–30% of the total vehicle kilometres within metropolitan areas, and policy-makers and operators are struggling to improve operational efficiency while mitigating externalities (Rodrigue and Dablanc, 2021). To reduce the impact of urban logistic operations, authorities and decision-makers have formulated policies and regulations. Examples of promoted policies include reducing (or favouring, according to context) night time operations, dedicating idling spaces to freight vehicles, limiting operations to specific time windows during the daytime (such as off-peak morning hours) or to specific vehicles (such as zero-emission vehicles), and adopting taxation or incentives to regulate the sector (Savelsbergh and van Woensel, 2016). However, these policies are often uncoordinated and result in minor or counterproductive effects (Nocera et al., 2021). This chapter presents urban mobility and logistics challenges with reference to FLM operations and indicates strategies that have been pursued with little or no positive results. This is followed by a discussion on an innovative paradigm for integrating passenger and goods transportation, which is referred to as “Cargo Hitching” (van Duin et al., 2019) or “Integrated Passenger Freight Logistics” (Bruzzone et al., 2021a) in previous literature, according to a concept that was first presented by the European Commission (EC) in its Green Paper on Urban Mobility (EC, 2007). Responding to the needs and indications of authorities, the EC suggested how a strong integration can improve mobility, logistics efficiency, and sustainability (from environmental, operational, and socioeconomic perspectives) while promoting a socially acceptable approach. The basic principles and best practices of integrated passenger-freight transport (IPFT) for FLM are presented in this chapter to explore the origins and the potential of the concept. Finally, drivers for both their success and failure are discussed, focusing on achievable operational, environmental, and socioeconomic benefits as well as on the main constraints that currently interfere with the promotion of the management of the mobility system as an entirety, with a particular emphasis on operative and normative/regulatory limits.
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