City logistics solutions for distribution in the last-mile economy

新冠肺炎危机提供了充分证据，证明商品流动对加拿大经济和加拿大人福祉的生死存亡重要性。城市物流城市经济(CLUE)是麦克马斯特大学、多伦多大学和约克大学的研究人员之间的合作，公共部门合作伙伴代表多个级别的政府和几个行业合作伙伴。CLUE将解决城市货物运输趋势带来的一系列相互关联的挑战和机遇。挑战包括在拥堵的城市道路上行驶的车辆满足消费者对当天送货上门的期望，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获得商用车辆和货物运输数据的机会，实现复杂分析的数据科学进展，以及有可能将研究成果转化为实践的线索伙伴关系。Clue将通过调查新的交付模式(人群运输、货运三轮车、移动配送中心、自动化车辆)、新的路边装载区技术以及取消禁止深夜货物交付的限制，来应对这些挑战，例如，如何提高货物流动网络的效率和减少影响。CLUE将提高司机和其他道路使用者的安全，并降低公众接触危险材料和车辆尾气的风险。按行业划分，运输行业是加拿大最大的排放者，货运卡车的排放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的效率并在这一重要部门保持和增加就业机会的行动。因此，这项研究的结果将对加拿大和加拿大人产生重大的经济、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.