Publications

Summary:
This paper assesses the public acceptance of Autonomous Delivery Vehicles (ADVs) by extending the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), incorporating subjective norms, environmental concerns, and hedonic motivations alongside the original TAM constructs. The perceived security risk of theft is also defined and included in the model to explore its moderating role. Data was collected from an online survey of 1567 participants in different cities in Iran.

Summary:
While e-commerce continues to grow as a proportion of retail sales, consumers still largely rely on vehicle travel to shop. At the same time, the “15-minute city” concept is gaining traction, suggesting that the livability and sustainability of urban areas will improve if essential goods and services are all located in close proximity to residential areas.

Summary:
Most of a delivery driver’s time is spent outside the vehicle, walking the last 50 feet to reach the delivery customers while the vehicle is stationary. However, little is known about the walking component of delivery routes, while most models and algorithms used for scheduling and planning urban freight vehicles focus solely on the driving component. This study fills this research gap by providing an empirical analysis of the role of walking in last-mile deliveries.

Summary:
Boston Delivers is a pilot project that promoted sustainable methods of making neighborhood deliveries for local businesses in Allston, Brighton, and the surrounding area. Instead of motor vehicles, packages were delivered by electric cargo bikes. The Boston Transportation Department (BTD) partnered with Net Zero Logistics (Net Zero) to carry out this delivery service. Net Zero Logistics provided electric cargo bikes, made deliveries, and coordinated delivery logistics.

Summary:
In 2023, Portland was awarded a U.S. Department of Transportation SMART grant to pilot a Zero-Emission Delivery Zone (ZEDZ). Funding for this Stage One SMART grant will allow PBOT to trial changing three to five truck loading zones into “Zero-Emission Delivery” loading zones in downtown Portland.

Summary:
Problem, research strategy, and findings The transportation sector is the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. To articulate how cities may combat rising emissions, municipalities throughout the country have produced climate action and sustainability plans that outline strategies to reduce their carbon footprints from transportation.

Summary:
Commercial electric vehicles (EVs) have increasingly gained interest from urban freight companies in the past decade due to the introduction of economic and policy drivers. Although these factors promote urban freight electrification, some barriers hinder the transition to fully electric fleets, such as the significant monetary investment required to replace the current internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV) and the lack of readily available electric freight vehicles.

Summary:
Purpose Despite large bodies of research related to the impacts of e-commerce on last-mile logistics and sustainability, there has been limited effort to evaluate urban freight using an equity lens. Therefore, this study proposes a modeling framework that enables researchers and planners to estimate the baseline equity performance of a major e-commerce platform and evaluate equity impacts of possible urban freight management strategies.

Summary:
Imagine the frustration of searching for a misplaced item, like your house keys or wallet, before leaving for a night out. Now, picture a FedEx or Amazon delivery driver halfway through a tight morning route, struggling to locate a parcel due by 9 a.m. while parked right outside the customer’s address. These misloads — where shipments are accidentally loaded onto the wrong delivery route or vehicle — not only cause stress and lost time for the delivery driver but also...

Summary:
Curbspace is a limited resource in urban areas. Delivery, ridehailing and passenger vehicles must compete for spaces at the curb. Cities are increasingly adjusting curb rules and allocating curb spaces for uses other than short-term paid parking, yet they lack the tools or data needed to make informed decisions. In this research, we analyze and quantify the impacts of different curb use allocations on curb performance through simulation.

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...

Summary:
The purpose of this research is to explore consumers’ online shopping and in-person shopping travel behaviors and the factors affecting these behaviors within the geographical context of the study area of West Seattle. West Seattle is a peninsula located southwest of downtown Seattle, Washington State. In March 2020, the West Seattle High Bridge, the main bridge connecting the peninsula to the rest of the city, was closed to traffic due to its increased rate of structural deterioration.

Summary:
Urban distribution centers (UDCs) are opening at unprecedented rates to meet rising home delivery demand. The trend has raised concerns over the equity and environmental justice implications of ecommerce’s negative externalities. However, little research exists connecting UDC location to the concentration of urban freight-derived air pollution among marginalized populations.

Summary:
Millions of people who live and work in cities purchase goods online. As ecommerce and urban deliveries spike, there is an increasing demand for curbside loading and unloading space. To better manage city curb spaces for urban freight, city planners and decision makers need to understand commercial vehicle driver behaviors and the factors they consider when parking at the curb. Urban freight transportation is a diverse phenomenon.

Summary:
Space is the scarcest resource in cities. How can we best use street space to do more for more street users? Mention the “space race” and it tends to conjure up the Cold War-era competition between the United States and the then-USSR to “conquer” outer space. But at the winter meeting of the Urban Freight Lab (UFL), members heard about a different race playing out on our streets right under our noses. It’s what Philippe Crist of the International Transportation...