In light of the high and further increasing traffic volume and the continuing emission problems in German cities, new concepts for urban freight transport are needed. In order to achieve a reduction of traffic and emission pollution from freight flows, the shift of freight transport to more environmentally friendly alternatives in particular offers great potential for improvement.
Although local public transport (ÖPNV) is generally considered an environmentally friendly mode of transport, it has hardly been considered in the context of urban freight transport to date. The project freight on Public Transportation aims at investigating under which conditions, in which design and for which applications public transportation can be integrated in principle to supply urban regions with goods. The starting point of the project idea is that public transport, which has so far only been used in specific cases for urban goods transport, could in future be systematically used to supply urban centers in the course of new supply concepts. To this end, the public transport system is to be integrated into a city logistics system, starting with the so-called “last mile”. The public transport system would thus replace part of the so-called main haul and form the link between supra-regional transport and the delivery of goods to the recipient. By integrating public transport into the transport chain, the traffic and emission burden caused by the flow of goods in urban centers could be reduced and the blocking of pedestrian infrastructure by delivery vehicles could be avoided. Furthermore, the utilization and profitability of public transport could be increased. The transport of goods off-peak in public transport would ensure that free capacities are used without impairing passenger traffic. The additional revenue generated in this way could be used to improve the financing of public transport.
Since public transport has so far only been considered in individual cases for urban freight transport, it is unclear under which conditions and for which applications a public transport system is advantageous in principle and what ecological and economic potentials result from this. Therefore, the aim of the project is to investigate and quantitatively evaluate the basic advantages of an integrated public transport network for goods. In particular, the possible design of the transport network with regard to the placement of the hubs (access, handling and exit points), as well as the routing of the flow of goods through the network will be considered. Special attention will be paid to the transhipment processes, as these have to be adapted to the passenger transport and therefore only a limited transhipment time and capacity is available. Handling time and capacity are further dependent on the considered route, the examined weekdays and the time of day.
In order to achieve the objectives and to formulate recommendations for a possible implementation of the concept idea, selected lines of the Frankfurt public transport system will be mathematically modeled and analyzed in the project. By means of this model, it will be experimentally investigated under which conditions (e.g. hub placement, line frequency) and for which demand structures a public transport network can be integrated as a sustainable and at the same time economic alternative for the supply of urban centers with goods.
Key Data:
Duration: October 2020 to August 2021
Sponsor: This project (HA project no.: 980/20-137) is funded by the State of Hesse and HOLM within the framework of the measure “Innovations in the field of logistics and mobility” of the Hessian Ministry of Economics, Energy, Transport and Housing.
Project management: Johannes Rentschler