Abstract
Urban distribution in medium-sized cities faces a major challenge, mainly when deliveries are difficult in the city center due to: an increase of e-commerce, weak public transportation system, and the promotion of urban sustainability plans. As a result, private cars, public transportation, and freight transportation compete for the same space. This paper analyses the current state for freight logistics in the city center of Pamplona (Spain) and proposes alternative transportation routes and transportation modes in the last-mile city center distribution according to different criteria evaluated by residents. An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was developed. A number of alternatives have been assessed considering routes and transportation modes: the shortest route criterion and avoiding some city center area policies are combined with traditional van-based, bike, and aerial (drone) distribution protocols for delivering parcels and bar/restaurant supplies. These alternatives have been evaluated within a multicriteria framework in which economic, environmental, and social objectives are considered at the same time. The point in this multicriteria framework is that the criteria/alternative AHP weights and priorities have been set according to a survey deployed in the city of Pamplona (Navarre, Spain). The survey and AHP results show the preference for the use of drone or bike distribution in city center in order to reduce social and environmental issues.
Highlights
Published: 4 August 2021As a key dimension of transport sustainability, environmental concerns in general and air pollution in particular is one of the greatest threats to human health in urban areas [1].In particular, freight transport is responsible for a large share of this mobility-related emissions
We developed an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) using the preferences from residents that are specially suffering from transportation-related issues in the city center—that is, as novelty for the AHP development, judgments from a relatively large group of persons are combined in order to form a weighted analysis
The AHP is a multicriteria optimization procedure to quantify the relative importance of each of several conflicting objectives or criteria employed in the decisionmaking process for a number of alternatives
Summary
As a key dimension of transport sustainability, environmental concerns in general and air pollution in particular is one of the greatest threats to human health in urban areas [1]. Freight transport is responsible for a large share of this mobility-related emissions. Considering only freight distribution, road transport is the largest subsector causing air pollution [2,3]. The objective of reducing air pollution usually conflicts with other ones such as economic or social welfare objectives. The economic criteria push companies to increase their operations and their transport activities. Social welfare may be threatened with the increase of logistics operations, in urban environments [6]
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