Stakeholder reactions to urban freight policy innovation

Urban freight policies aim to minimise negative economic and environmental impact of freight movement in cities. At present, sustainable urban freight management is often hampered by a lack of awareness, not only of the local regulatory contexts, but also regarding acceptability and operative constrains of various distribution-chain stakeholders. This paper presents findings from a project investigating innovative freight solutions in a multi-stakeholder setting in Rome's limited traffic zone focussing on local policy-makers, freight carries and retailers. The paper explores the responses of stakeholders in two consultation stages. Firstly, it examines the problem structure and policy sensitivity using in depth focus groups with stakeholders. Second, a survey with 195 operators is carried out to examine behavioural responses to policy innovation on behalf of carriers, retailers and own-account operators. Results point towards heterogeneity in policy acceptability and reveal different operator's stated reactions to innovative freight policies. The proposed empirical analysis considering multiple stakeholders points of view provides important inputs to improve freight policy design and analysis. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.