Data Production for Urban Goods Transport Planning and Management

This chapter deals with data production within the paradox of big-no data in urban logistics. More precisely, the chapter aims to make an overview on data production in urban logistics and present the main issues, as well as a framework, to overcome that paradox. First, the big-no data paradox is defined and motivated. Second, the question of demand and route estimation in urban logistics is examined more in-depth via an overview of current data production methods and techniques used to estimate demand and transport flows. Third, a framework to produce unified databases filling those data lacks is introduced as well as an analysis on how the different data production techniques can be used to overcome that paradox. Finally, research directions regarding urban goods transport data production are provided.

Delivery Constraints and Access Policies in City Centers

This chapter contributes to the discussion on city access policies via the identification of a set of common beliefs and the relations between vehicle size (related to one of the most popular types of access policy actions) and logistics performance of urban deliveries. First, the author makes an overview of such policies in various European countries, then establishes a non-exhaustive set of common beliefs regarding urban logistics that influence policy making among others. Then, to illustrate the common belief regarding vehicle sizes, the chapter proposes an example of scenario assessment for stating on the usefulness and performance of different vehicles. Results show that there is not a more suitable vehicle type than another, and the use of the different vehicles will depend on the carriers' strategies and choices.

Costs and Benefits of Railway Urban Logistics

This chapter presents a general framework to assess urban rail logistics suitability via a socio-economic cost-benefit analysis, also called social cost-benefit analysis (SCBA). First, the author proposes an overview on the basic notions of SCBA starting from those of classical cost-benefit analysis (CBA) then identifies and presents the main types of costs and benefits of railway urban logistics services and the related final delivery services associated to them using low emission road vehicles to serve final customers from the railway stops. After that, the main modelling issues needed for SCBA assessment are presented. Finally, as an example of application, the author proposes to assess a scenario of deployment of a freight tramway in Paris, in a possible configuration. The results show the potential of those approaches but also show that it is important to contextualize them and inform the different users about their real capabilities.

Considerations on Set Partitioning and Set Covering Models for Solving the 2E-CVRP in City Logistics

This chapter proposes a position viewpoint, discussion, and analysis of various aspects of solving 2E-CVRP problems via exact methods, more precisely the use of set partitioning formulations (and consequently set covering ones), as well as column generation to produce bounds and feed branch-and-prize approaches. After an overview of the main exact methods used to solve 2E-CVRP approaches, the author defines the main notions and variables to model the problem via set covering and set partitioning models. Then the paper presents two methods to generate bounds via column generation: the first is a decomposition approach in which first-echelon and second-echelon routes are generated separately, without any relation, and the second generate sets of linked first-echelon and second-echelon routes. The main implications and considerations of those methods are addressed. Finally, main issues regarding the suitability of exact methods for vehicle routing in city logistics are presented.

Modelling Urban Goods Transport

This chapter proposes an overview of the main urban goods transport movement approaches in more than 40 years of research in the field. A state of the art on urban goods transport modelling is proposed in the form of a chronology to examine the main four periods in urban goods transport modelling, the main approaches, and the main schools of thinking. After that, the main dominant approaches are defined and presented. The author observes that, although in literature there is the feeling that no unified approach is dominating the field, several dominant approaches can be found: the first concerns demand generation models, the second the way generation is linked to route definition and construction, the third to the units used, and the fourth to the use of origin-destination synthesis when few data are available and classical models are not able to be deployed. Finally, as a conclusion, the paper shows on the current state of the field, which has achieved various advances, shows the capacity to innovate in the near future.

Road Occupancy Issues and CO2 Emissions of Urban Goods Deliveries Under Contrasted Scenarios of Retail Development

This chapter presents four contrasted and near-caricatured scenarios of retail location and distribution, and compares them on the bases of both road occupancy rates and greenhouse gas emissions. Two main families of scenarios are defined: retailing land-use scenarios, based on the location of the different retailing activities of a city; and end-consumer delivery organizational scenarios, based on the definition of new services to deliver end-consumers, at home or to reception points. Those scenarios are simulated using an integrated approach combining inter-establishment goods transport flows, shopping trips, and end-consumer deliveries. The assessment approach is able to show the relation between several aspects of retailing deployment (mainly store location, catchment area's supply, and urban retailing planning policies) and both upstream distribution of goods to retailers and downstream usage of private vehicles for shopping. Although scenarios are extreme and contrasted, they are able to identify the limits and forces of the different retailing strategies in urban zones.

Costs and Benefits of Logistics Pooling for Urban Freight Distribution

Collaborative transportation and logistics pooling are relatively new concepts in research, but are very popular in practice. In the last years, collaborative transportation seems a good city logistics alternative to classical urban consolidation centers, but it is still in a development stage. This chapter proposes a framework for urban logistics pooling ex-ante evaluation. This framework is developed with two purposes. The first is to generate comparable contrasted or progressive scenarios representing realistic situations; the second to simulate and assess them to make a “before-after” comparative analysis. In this framework, a demand generation model is combined with a route optimization algorithm to simulate the resulting routes of the proposed individual or collaborative distribution schemes assumed by each scenario. Then, several indicators are obtained. To illustrate that framework, several scenarios for the urban area of Lyon (France) are simulated and discussed to illustrate the proposed framework possible applications.

Using Retailing-Based Gravity Accessibility for Urban Retailing Planning Diagnosis in Terms of Goods Movements

This chapter proposes an exploratory gravity accessibility analysis applied to urban goods transport in Lyon, France to support public decision choices in terms of retailing land use. The proposed indicator is shopping-trip oriented but with a viewpoint of urban goods transport: it considers freight generation (i.e., commodity quantities) at destination and travel issues between household locations and retailing areas for shopping purposes. First, an overview of accessibility used in both urban personal and goods mobility is made, and the proposed analysis motivated. Second, the main methodological elements are presented, focusing on the modelling issues mobilized for indicator construction. Third, the analysis is applied to the current situation for the urban area of Lyon. Results are presented and discussed. Finally, recommendations to public authorities for land-use and mobility (both for people and goods) policy assessment are proposed.

Estimating the Impacts of Retailing Land-Use Scenarios on Shopping Trip Structure

This chapter proposes a decision support system, STG-Sim, that estimates the number of shopping trip chains as well as the related distances to assess the impacts of the retailing structure on the final part of goods transport chains: that of bringing purchased goods to the end-consumer's location. First, the methodological framework of the shopping trip chain estimation is proposed. It includes a generation model (for both motorized and pedestrian trips), a catchment area distribution model (to relate the shopping locations to the household's ones), and a distance estimation procedure. An application to the deployment of four retailing poles (two new ones and two extension ones) in Lyon, France, is also presented. Finally, practical implications and further developments are presented.

Two-Echelon Location-Routing and Vehicle Routing Problems in City Logistics

This chapter presents the main notions of two-echelon vehicle routing (2E-VRP) in relation to city logistics. After introducing vehicle routing and the main single-echelon problems and variants, the two-echelon version is presented and two different models proposed: one based on commodity flow and the other on vehicle flow modelling). Several instances are solved with those models and the results are compared and discussed. That comparison illustrates the difficulty of using this type of models to obtain results to that problem, and motivates the need of developing suitable algorithms. For that reason, an overview of heuristic methods to solve two-echelon vehicle routing problems is made, as well as an introduction of other related problems which are similar and interesting, relating in all cases the presented methods and problems to city logistics needs and goals.