Français
RATP : Urban Freight Policy
Reviewing the organisation of urban freight transport services. A number of ideas can be considered including deliveries using smaller and less pollutant vehicles, deliveries out of hours, in addition to helping the delivery staff to select the optimal route.
However, existing collective transport networks are also an area to be examined for possible improvements. RATP has therefore decided to actively co-operate with all stakeholders involved in the Urban Freight Transport sector.
Studies in the urban freight transport field
Until recently, urban freight transport was rarely taken into account when considering urban travel issues or in urban economic development policies.
Research programmes and experimental initiatives have been undertaken over the last decade, both in France and abroad. Thanks to these efforts, urban freight transport, which accounts for a non-negligible part of motorised urban traffic, and of which the successful performance can have a great deal of influence on the economic dynamism of the city is now better known and can be better understood by public and by professional decision makers in all its complexity.
For an overview of the main results from these studies: click here [This content is not available in English]
Urban freight : an issue for a more sustainable city
Urban freight contributes significantly to pollution which often induces a bad quality of life in urban centres.
Indeed, even if in urban zones, delivery vehicles represent only 10% of the transport expressed in vehicles-kilometres, they are responsible for over 40% of the air pollution and noise created by local traffic.
Furthermore, the use of vehicles often unsuitable to urban environment increases the risks of road accidents and contributes to town congestion.
The delivery of goods in cities is itself hindered by this congestion, which in its turn can be worsened by public measures aiming, among other things, at reducing nuisances.
All environmental problems induced by individual car transport and the delivery of goods in cities questions the liveability of the urban sectors and their sustainability.
The report « Sustainable Urban Transport Plan » shows that city dwellers are more and more submitted to urban nuisances and to a deterioration of air quality. In five years time, the part of the population exposed to particulate matter increased from 15% to 40%.
Delivering goods in urban centres is nevertheless essential, as it allows maintaining retail activities which contribute to the quality of life in town centres. The proximity of these local shops with the inhabitants deters them from using their private car for purchasing trips, for example in the town suburbs which often suffer from a lack of public transport.
Undoubtedly, the organisation of urban freight must be reviewed. Several possibilities are to be considered: delivering with light vehicles that are low polluting, delivering during off-peak hours, helping the delivery men to choose the best routes, planning intelligently the on street parking possibilities, helping local authorities to organise delivery areas…
But the existing collective transport networks are also an innovative possibility worth studying.
RATP, to invent the logistic solutions for the city of tomorrow
RATP has decided to cooperate actively with all the actors involved in the urban freight and urban logistic questions: local authorities, suppliers, logisticians, but also the authorities involved in the project (Ministry, ADEME, CERTU…)
The investigation about urban freight and logistics is still recent and concentrates today on research. This is the reason why RATP is among the founders of the Chair of City Logistic (FRELON) of Mines ParisTech (Ecole des Mines de Paris)
>> For more information: www.frelon.mines-paristech.fr [This content is not available in English]
To deal with these topics, the Urban Freight Mission in RATP participates also in national and European research programs. In the PREDIT framework, it plays a part in two projects:
- FILET :
« Faisabilité de l’Intégration Logistique des Espaces Transport » (feasibility of the logistical integration of transport spaces), together with the consultant Interface Transport et Jonction and Mines ParisTech with the support of the City of Paris Road and Mobility Department
>> For more information: www.projet-filet.fr
- IMOT :EP :
Intégration des Mixités Opérationnelles Transport : Etats et Possibles (Integration of the Operational Combination of Transport Flows : State of the art and possibilities) – together with consultant Interface Transport et Jonction and Mines ParisTech with the backing of the City of Paris Road and Mobility Department
>> For more information : www.projet-imotep.fr
- TRAMFRET :
RATP also participates in the project TRAMFRET, with APUR (Paris Town Planning Workshop) and is studying the possibility of using inner suburbs tramway lines to deliver goods.
>> For more information: www.apur.org [This content is not available in English]
- ALUD :
RATP is also partnering the association ALUD, which
promotes sustainable urban logistics. In October 2011, ALUD launched a home
delivery service costing less than EUR 2.40 per delivery, in Paris’ Belleville
and Jourdain districts (19th and 20th arrondissements).
>> For more information: www.latournee.fr [This content is not available in English]
Through its involvement with many other actors, RATP, as a multimodal transport operator, works towards a better organisation of Urban Freight, to invent the logistical solutions for the city of the future and its new mobility.
