Evaluating the role of commercial parking bays for urban stakeholders on last-mile deliveries - A consideration of various sustainability aspects

In this contribution, we assess the traditional last mile delivery concept and a framework with commercial parking bays for carriers in terms of their sustainability value for urban stakeholders. We evaluate the potential advantages and disadvantages of commercial parking bays and provide routing solutions based on the given context and stakeholder objectives. To ensure the needs of the stakeholders and the possibility of a near future implementation in the dynamic real-world system, we chose a combined approach of simulation and mathematical optimization, which allows us to investigate the concept efficiently and with a high reliability. By means of an agent-based simulation model as well as a mixed-integer linear model, we establish a heuristic routing solution for minimizing both emissions and delivery durations. We consider different scenarios in which customers are visited in a delivery radius, around a specific commercial parking bay. Outside this radius, delivery operations are conducted through second-row parking activities. Our results for the area of investigation show that the investigated scenario featuring a 200-m delivery radius around the parking bays has a 29.8% emission savings potential compared to traditional parcel delivery procedures. Moreover, optimizing the delivery routes with our green vehicle routing approach has indicated an additional savings potential of 26.4% in terms of delivery duration and 16.4% in terms of emission output for traditional parcel deliveries. Concerning the individual evaluation of the logistics context, our results indicate that dedicated commercial parking bays could be attractive to most urban stakeholders when employed utilizing a hybrid approach, combining traditional delivery activities with commercial parking bay fulfillment.

Automated summary

This study evaluates the sustainability of commercial parking bays in urban operations, proposing heuristic routing solutions for emission reduction and delivery time optimization through simulation and mathematical optimization methods. Results demonstrate the emission savings potential of scenarios with a 200-meter delivery radius around commercial parking bays, as well as additional savings in delivery duration and emission output with optimized green vehicle routing approaches.