What does the EU’s New Urban Mobility Framework mean for the logistics sector?
The EU’s New Urban Mobility Framework is aimed at helping European cities develop sustainable, safe, resilient and emission- and pollution-free urban transport systems, thus meeting the EU’s climate targets. Having learned lessons from the effects of COVID-19, the framework also addresses social challenges in urban living and citizens’ behavioural changes brought by the pandemic.
“The framework addresses challenges in urban logistics and proposes actions to make the sector more smart and sustainable,” says Yanying Li, Head of Programme and Knowledge Management at ALICE (Alliance for Logistics Innovation through Collaboration in Europe). “It also indicates that last-mile delivery will continue to grow as a result of the increase in e-commerce activity, in turn a result of behavioural changes caused by the pandemic.”
The framework also sees collaboration between local authorities and private stakeholders, regular dialogues among all parties, and networking and exchanges among city planners as essential, and recommends co-creating Sustainable Urban Logistics Plans (SULP) with various stakeholders.
“The framework gives equal importance to freight and passenger transport as part of urban mobility. It calls for integration of passenger and freight transport in urban planning, traffic management and sustainable urban mobility policy-making,” Li suggests. “While EU-wide uptake of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP) will be promoted, SUMPs should be integrated with SULPs. Both should also be in alignment with cities’ Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAP). Thus, the logistics sector will be able to make its contributions to reach cities’ climate ambitions. Zero emission urban logistics should be a key component of the transition to a climate-neutral urban future. To realise this, more dialogues will be needed to facilitate cooperation between the public and private sectors, as well as dialogue between the logistics sector and climate and energy sectors.”
Zero emission urban logistics should be a key component of the transition to a climate-neutral urban future
The framework highlights the important roles cities and regions play for ‘first and last mile’ connections in the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), a key infrastructure initiative to connect EU countries for passenger and freight transport.
Says Li: “To ensure efficient connection between long haul and last mile delivery, the framework recommends urban and regional planning to support interconnectivity with a clear statement that ‘a sufficient number of multimodal terminals and freight consolidation centre is needed’.
This statement provides the possibility of planning and implementing consolidation centres to connect multimodal transport in urban areas that are often located on the outskirts of cities.” In addition to inland waterways and other conventional transport modes, the concept of multimodality has been extended to automated transport and drones as well as cargo bikes. Such innovative modes are expected to increase their share in urban logistics, notes Li.
“To prepare for the future, multimodal terminals and logistics hubs to connect such modes are essential. The use of such innovative modes, e.g. automated delivery robots, drones and cargo bikes, will require micro-logistics hubs close to customers. New regulations on the use of urban space, for both parking and routing and safety will be needed, but this has not been covered by the framework.”
Automated transport, combining passenger and freight transport, has also been piloted by several Horizon 2020 projects (e.g. LEAD and SPROUT). In the recently launched URBANE project, delivery robots using public transport will be tested. Similarly disruptive solutions will challenge current regulatory frameworks for public transport. The combination of passengers and freight transport has enormous potential to increase efficiency of the transport network.
“To ensure seamless connectivity, multimodal hubs that can optimise usage of all type of transport modes are essential,” says Li, who is also a member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on Urban Mobility (EGUM). “Digital solutions that can increase efficiency of multimodal hubs and the overall network need to be developed and implemented. Any digital solutions will require data from various transport modes and stakeholders. The framework states in several contexts the importance of data collection and data sharing between the public and the private sector. It recognised a lack of consistent collection of urban mobility data for monitoring and data-driven policy-making.
“A common approach to facilitate data sharing between the public and private sectors as well support for capacity building for the public sector in managing data will be needed.
The frameworks calls for voluntary data sharing between all types of stakeholders to make urban freight transport more efficient, sustainable, and competitive.”
Data sharing has a key role to play in the future of smart urban logistics, as it will enable the digitalisation of urban vehicle access regulations (UVARs) that are fragmented and create difficulties to logistics operators.
The framework recommends that the development of multimodal freight terminals as well deployment of charging infrastructure should be based on a comprehensive data analysis of traffic flows
“The framework recognises that the digitalisation of UVARs offers an effective and cost-efficient way to resolve certain challenges that public authorities, fleet owners, and logistics operators face,” Li elucidates. “The framework supports the deployment of low- and zero-emission vehicles, stating that making charging and refuelling infrastructure available in logistics hubs is important for both long-haul trucks and last mile delivery vehicles. The framework recommends that the development of multimodal freight terminals as well deployment of charging infrastructure should be based on a comprehensive data analysis of traffic flows.”
The framework agrees that cargo bikes are taking an increasing share of commercial delivery services. While the framework supports logistics hubs to enable operation of cargo bikes, it does not include action on standardisation or regulation for them. Flexible vehicle designs and use of standard modularisation may be able to maximise the benefits of using cargo bikes, another area that has not been addressed in the framework.
As Li points out: “It’s likely that new disruptive solutions will be developed and deployed and they might cause undesired and unexpected negative impacts on society. Dutch cities putting the operation of ‘dark stores’ used for fast delivery of groceries to customers on hold is one of the latest examples. It is difficult to forecast and prepare for such impacts. Continuing dialogues between the public and private sector to enable them work together will be the only way forward.”
Engaging consumers to choose the most sustainable urban logistics solutions for their e-commerce delivery is also not covered by the framework, even though this can reduce emissions from e-commerce by motivating e-commerce platforms and their delivery companies to use more sustainable urban delivery solutions.
“More studies and pilots are needed to develop a comprehensive understanding on empower consumers for sustainable urban logistics,” Li concludes.
The framework recognises that the digitalisation of UVARs offers an effective and cost-efficient way to resolve certain challenges that public authorities, fleet owners, and logistics operators face
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