LEAD presents promising results for enhancing city logistics in The Hague
The municipality of The Hague organised a workshop to discuss the progress and insights of LEAD, to improve city logistics through testing the hyperconnected city concept. The workshop gathered stakeholders from different departments to brainstorm ideas and gather feedback on how LEAD insights could be used to improve city logistics in The Hague.
New solution areas were proposed, including gamification in combination with health challenges to promote (bike) crowdshipping, coupling freight delivery with existing transport services, and stricter policy-making to enforce zero-emission delivery in certain areas. The idea of creating The Hague Freight Quality Partnership – as it already happens in Rotterdam – to bring logistic companies and the municipality together was also discussed.
Further research areas suggested included varying payment systems based on delivery urgency, locker storage as intermediate consolidation points, and investigating alternative motivation for becoming a crowdshipper besides monetary incentives. Constructive criticisms were raised, including the possible downside to hyperconnectivity as it may cause an increase in movements in the long-term due to lower transport costs. Another potential negative side effect would be that the use of parcel lockers as logistical hubs could take away business from local business owners of pick-up points, who currently also perform a function in social cohesion between neighbourhoods. The workshop concluded with a survey that participants were encouraged to fill out to provide additional feedback.
