Allen, Julian, Bektas, Tolga 
ORCID: 0000-0003-0634-144X, Cherrett, Tom, Bates, Oliver, Friday, Adrian, McLeod, Fraser, Piecyk, Maja, Piotrowska, Marzena, Nguyen, ThuBa and Wise, Sarah
(2018)
The Scope for Pavement Porters: Addressing the Challenges of Last-Mile Parcel Delivery in London
TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH RECORD, 2672 (9).
pp. 184-193.
ISSN 0361-1981, 2169-4052
|
Text
TRB 2018 paper 18-01708 for re-review.pdf - Author Accepted Manuscript Download (739kB) | Preview |
Abstract
The UK parcel sector generated almost £9 billion in revenue in 2015, with growth expected to increase by 15.6% to 2019 and is characterized by many independent players competing in an “everyone-delivers-everywhere” culture leading to much replication of vehicle activity. With road space in urban centers being increasingly reallocated to pavement widening, and bus and cycle lanes, there is growing interest in alternative solutions to the last-mile delivery problem. We make three contributions in this paper: firstly, through empirical analysis using carrier operational datasets, we quantify the characteristics of last-mile parcel operations and demonstrate the reliance placed on walking by vehicle drivers with their vans being parked at the curbside for on average 60% of the total vehicle round time; secondly, we introduce the concept of “portering” where vans rendezvous with porters who operate within specific geographical “patches” to service consignees on foot, potentially saving 86% in driving distance on some rounds and 69% in time; finally, we highlight the wider practical issues and optimization challenges associated with operating driving and portering rounds in inner urban areas.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | 3509 Transportation, Logistics and Supply Chains, 40 Engineering, 4005 Civil Engineering, 35 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 29 Jul 2019 09:02 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Jun 2026 16:19 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/0361198118794535 |
| Open Access URL: | https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/420275/ |
| Related Websites: | |
| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3050386 |
| Disclaimer: | The University of Liverpool is not responsible for content contained on other websites from links within repository metadata. Please contact us if you notice anything that appears incorrect or inappropriate. |
Altmetric
Altmetric