City logistics solutions for distribution in the last-mile economy

COVID-19危机提供了充分的证据，证明货物流动对加拿大经济和加拿大人的福祉至关重要。城市物流促进城市经济（CLUE）是麦克马斯特大学、多伦多大学和约克大学的研究人员与代表各级政府和几个行业合作伙伴的公共部门合作伙伴之间的合作项目。CLUE将解决城市货物运输趋势所带来的一系列相互关联的挑战和机遇。这些挑战包括，车辆在拥堵的城市道路上行驶，以满足消费者对当日送货上门的期望，争夺路边停车位，以及导致车辆排放增加。这些机会包括前所未有的商用车和货物运输数据访问，数据科学的进步使复杂的分析成为可能，以及CLUE合作伙伴关系，这有可能将研究成果转化为实践。CLUE将通过研究新的配送模式（人群运输、货运三轮车、移动配送中心、自动驾驶汽车）、新的路边装货区技术，以及取消禁止深夜货物配送的限制等，来提高货物运输网络的效率，减少影响，从而应对这些挑战。CLUE将改善司机和其他道路使用者的安全，减少公众接触有害物质和车辆排放的风险。按行业计算，运输部门是加拿大最大的排放部门，货运卡车的排放量增长速度明显快于乘用车。CLUE将调查劳动力趋势以及自动化和技术的影响，以确定将维持和提高加拿大货物流动网络效率的行动，并在这一重要部门保持和增加就业机会。因此，这项研究的成果将为加拿大和加拿大人带来巨大的经济、社会和环境效益。

The COVID-19 crisis has provided ample evidence of the existential importance of goods movement to the Canadian economy and the well-being of Canadians. City Logistics for the Urban Economy (CLUE) is a collaboration among researchers at McMaster University, the University of Toronto and York University, with public sector partners representing multiple levels of government and several industry partners. CLUE will address an interrelated set of challenges and opportunities arising from trends in urban goods transportation. The challenges include meeting consumer expectations for same-day home delivery by vehicles travelling over congested urban roads, competing for curbside parking and contributing to increasing vehicle emissions. The opportunities include unprecedented access to data on commercial vehicle and goods transportation, advances in data science that enable sophisticated analytics and the CLUE partnership, which has the potential to translate research outcomes into practice. CLUE will address the challenges by investigating how new delivery models (crowd-shipping, cargo tricycles, mobile distribution centres, automated vehicles), new curbside loading zone technology, and lifting restrictions that prohibit late-night goods deliveries, for example, make the goods movement network more efficient and less impactful. CLUE will improve safety for drivers and other road users and reduce the public risks of exposure to hazardous materials and vehicle emissions. The transportation sector is the largest emitter, by sector, in Canada and emissions from freight trucks are rising notably faster than those of passenger vehicles. CLUE will investigate labour trends and the impacts of automation and technology to identify actions that will maintain and improve the efficiency of Canada's goods movement network and preserve and grow employment opportunities in this important sector. The outcomes of this research will thus have substantial economic, social and environmental benefits for Canada and Canadians.