Delivery vehicle drivers are experiencing increasing challenges in finding available curb space to park in urban areas, increasing cruising instances for parking, and parking in unauthorized spaces. Policies traditionally used to reduce cruising for parking for passenger vehicles, such as parking fees and congestion pricing, are not effective at changing delivery drivers’ travel and parking behaviors.
Intelligent parking systems that use real-time curb availability information to better route and park vehicles can reduce cruising for parking. Still, they have never been tested for delivery vehicle drivers. A study tested whether providing real-time curb availability information to delivery drivers reduces the travel time and distance spent cruising for parking.
A curb parking information system deployed in a study area in Seattle, Wash., displayed real-time curb availabilities on a mobile app called OpenPark. A controlled experiment assigned drivers’ deliveries in the study area with and without access to OpenPark. The data collected showed that when curb availability information was provided to drivers, their cruising for parking time significantly decreased by 27.9 percent, and their cruising distance decreased by 12.4 percent. These results demonstrate the potential for implementing intelligent parking systems to improve the efficiency of urban logistics systems.
The authors hope this study will encourage more cities to pilot test and explore connected vehicle infrastructure systems for delivery vehicles. While they showed the value of providing curb availability information to delivery drivers, more work should be done to understand the best way to use that information. While drivers had direct access to curb availability information through the OpenPark app, carriers might consider integrating such information in their routing systems to reduce cruising for parking and improve operational efficiencies.
Picture: Thomas Schlijper Amsterdam