United States - European Commission Urban Freight Twinning Initiative: Compendium of Project Summaries, Volume II
Overview of 2018-2019 International Urban Freight Roundtables

Pilot

European Union

LIFE ASPIRE

ASPIRE is an innovative pilot project under the LIFE Program, funded by the European Union (EU) Commission, which is piloting the notion of "credit-based" access into a city center. It is led by the Municipality of Lucca and involves six partners from three different EU Countries (Italy, Croatia, and Sweden) in collaboration with the cities of Stockholm and Zadar. LIFE ASPIRE defines and implements a "credit-based" access policy allowing flexible road pricing criteria related to the last mile goods delivery. The main innovation is the implementation of a policy that rewards or penalizes transport operators based on different factors such as vehicle emissions, duration of stay, trip frequency, and the utilization of time slots or new logistics services. To manage this policy, LIFE ASPIRE will implement in Lucca a Logistics Credit Management Platform (LOCMAP) integrated with two other services (loading/unloading parking lots and cargo-bike sharing) and with the existing access control system dedicated to control commercial vehicles entrance/exit in the limited traffic zone. The replicability and transferability of this "credit-based" access control policy and the related new logistics services will be verified at European levels in collaboration with Stockholm, Sweden—a large city—and Zadar, Croatia—a small town—taking into account their specific contexts.

Project Type

Piot.

Period of Performance

October 2017 - September 2020.

Project Sites

Lucca, Italy; Stockholm, Sweden; and Zadar, Croatia.

Contact

Giorgio Ambrosino
General Manager
MemEx
Livorno, Italy
Giorgio.Ambrosina@memexitaly.it
+39 0586 211646

Topics Addressed

• Air quality/environment.
• Curbside delivery and parking.
• Energy consumption.
• Last mile delivery.
• Livability/quality of life.
• Urban access.

Expected Outcomes

The implementation of LIFE ASPIRE will reduce the current level of freight traffic by decreasing the total number of commercial vehicles in last mile delivery operations in the inner historic center of Lucca (and in particular in pedestrian and limited traffic zones). Consequently, it will reduce the current levels of environmental pollution, noise, and vibration due to commercial vehicle emissions. The approach, which is based on "credit access policy," will be evaluated from its transferability/replicability both at the large city level (Stockholm) and the small town level (Zadar) in order to support the European policy/directive for the Freight Urban Transport (FUT). In particular, the role of Urban Consolidation Center (LuccaPort) will be assessed in this new policy.

Stakeholder Involvement

In order to ensure a proper development of LIFE ASPIRE measures, all relevant stakeholders and target groups will be engaged. The local authorities of Lucca, Zadar, and Stockholm are directly involved in planning measures and demonstration through the Cities and Stakeholder Supporting Forum. A Scientific and Technical Committee has been established, involving university and research institutions, which will directly contribute to the assessment of the innovative approach and measures of LIFE ASPIRE. Local, regional, and national policy makers will be involved, especially for the regulation and research developments and initiatives. Local trade, craftsmen, commerce associations, and transport operators will also be involved in order to collect suggestions and indications for evaluating the LIFE ASPIRE measures after the demonstration phase. Finally, citizens, public transport users, and goods distribution system users will be involved in the demonstration as direct end users of the LIFE ASPIRE services.