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Overview of Second Annual Urban Freight Roundtable at 2017 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting


Research

Decomposing the Home-based Delivery Supply Chain

This project aims to explore the characteristics of freight demand and delivery behavior at large residential buildings in the New York City (NYC) region. The project includes multiple case studies employing both building delivery records and direct field observation to identify delivery trends. Variables examined include, but are not limited to: overall package and vehicle demands; shipment sizes; time-of-day, day-of-week, and annual trends; shipper and carrier types; vehicle types; parking behavior for delivery and pickup; and curbside logistics models.

photo of a delivery person with a cart loaded with boxes at the rear of a delivery truck parked on a NYC sidewalk

An example of home-based delivery in New York City.
Source: Dr. Alison Conway, The City College of New York.

Project Type

Research

Period of Performance

June 2015 - June 2017

Project Site(s)

Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Bronx boroughs of New York City; Fort Lee, NJ

Website

https://www.metrans.org/research/decomposing-home-based-delivery-supply-chain

Contacts

Dr. Alison Conway
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering, The City College of New York
(212) 650-5372
AConway@ccny.cuny.edu

Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Professor
Van Horne Researcher in Transportation and Logistics, Hofstra University
Jean-Paul.Rodrigue@hofstra.edu

Dr. Camille Kamga
Director
University Transportation Research Center, The City College of New York
CKamga@utrcs2.org

Challenges Addressed

  • E-commerce
  • Freight demand
  • Parking behavior

Expected Outcomes

The project is expected to produce a final report detailing delivery characteristics and trends identified for residential delivery activity in the NYC region. The report will also discuss the benefits and challenges of the data collection methods employed. Results from this study will also be compared with related studies ongoing in Metro freight partner cities of Paris and Seoul.

Stakeholder Involvement

This project is being conducted by researchers at the University Transportation Research Center (UTRC) from Hofstra University and the City College of New York. The project is being funded by the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations through the Metrofreight Center.

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