Light goods vehicles in urban areas

The paper provides a review of the light goods vehicle (LGV) fleet and its activity, with specific reference to operations in urban areas, and sustainability issues associated with the ever-growing use of LGVs. Traditionally these vehicles have received little attention but are becoming an ever-more important element of urban freight transport both for goods collection and delivery and for the provision of a wide range of critical services. Relevant literature from the UK and elsewhere pertaining to LGV operations and their impacts has been identified and utilised. The paper identifies the impacts of LGV operations in terms of economic, social and environmental impacts and presents the range of measures being taken by policy makers and companies to address negative impacts.

London 2012: changing delivery patterns in response to the impact of the Games on traffic flows

The paper addresses road freight transport operations during the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. It presents work carried out prior to the Games to understand pre-Games patterns of freight deliveries in London (for both light and heavy goods vehicles) and the results of modelling work carried out to assess the likely impacts of the Games road restrictions on freight operations. The modelling results indicated that increases in total hours travelled carrying out collection and delivery work would range from 1.4% to 11.4% in the six sectors considered. The results suggested increases in hours travelled in excess of 3.5% in four of the six sectors modelled. The possible actions that could be taken by organizations to reduce these negative impacts were also modelled and the results indicated that such actions would help to mitigate the impact of the road restrictions imposed on operators during the Games. The actual impacts of the 2012 Games on transport both in general terms and specifically in terms of freight transport are also discussed, together with the success of the actions taken by Transport for London (TfL) to help the road freight industry. The potential freight transport legacy of the London 2012 Games in terms of achieving more sustainable urban freight transport is considered and the steps being taken by TfL to help ensure that such a legacy can be realized are discussed. Such steps include policy-makers continuing to collaborate closely with the freight industry through the ‘London Freight Forum’, and TfL's efforts to encourage and support companies revising their delivery and collection times to the off-peak; improving freight planning in the design and management of TfL-funded road schemes; electronic provision of traffic information by TfL to the freight industry, and the further development of freight journey planning tools.

Survey forms used in urban freight studies

Report produced as part of the Green Logistics project (EPSRC and Department for Transport funded). This report contains examples of survey forms used in urban freight studies both in the UK and overseas. The studies from which these examples have been drawn range in data from 1970-2008. The purpose of the report is to provide insight into the types of questions used in different survey techniques and also into the design of survey forms. It is hoped that bringing together in a single document these examples of urban freight survey forms will be of use to researchers involved in such studies in future in planning and designing their survey work. Examples of several different types of survey techniques are provided including: Establishment surveys -- Commodity flow surveys -- Freight operator surveys -- Roadside interview surveys -- Driver surveys -- Vehicle observation surveys -- Parking surveys -- Vehicle trip diaries -- Service provider surveys