Urban traffic congestion and freight transport: A comparative assessment of three European cities

Paper in proceeding, 2017

A high proportion of freight and service transport in cities takes place during peak hours on the road network. At the same time, trends in supply chains and logistics management together with changes in the behaviour by business and private consumers are leading to increased fragmentation of last mile deliveries. The combined result of this is that more vehicles are trying to make more deliveries at the same time and the infrastructure available (roadspace and curbside space) cannot cope. The paper explores this trend by means of a review in three contrasting cities: Stockholm, Brussels and London. The research is a qualitative assessment of trends and developments focused on freight transport and congestion. The three cities suffer from problems of congestion and all have a growing number of smaller vehicles being used in urban supply chains. This has consequences for congestion patterns. All three cities also face greater increases in freight transport activity compared with personal car travel. The scope to retime deliveries to the off peak hours (OHD) is important and some progress has been made although it is limited.
The comparisons provide some insights and give ideas for further changes.