Despite being a significant component of urban traffic, service trips are often overlooked in academic literature. These trips are primarily undertaken to perform various services, with the transportation of necessary goods being an integral part of the process. As a result, professionals use commercial vehicles for these tasks. A recent paper employs a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies to explore service trips.
The first section provides a literature review on service trips and their characteristics. The second section describes the basic attributes of service trips in the Paris Region and the vehicles service providers use based on a quantitative survey conducted in 2021. The third section delves into the “logistification” of service trips—the outsourcing of the freight transport component to logistics providers—through qualitative interviews.
The mobility of Service Providers (SPs) is rapidly evolving as firms adapt to rising transport costs and leverage new services. The case studies highlighted focus on the construction, repair, and maintenance sectors. However, many solutions discussed—such as on-demand and instant deliveries, buffer storage near or on-site, modal shifts, and integrated planning solutions—could be applicable across various industry sectors. Some of these new services could enhance urban traffic conditions.
In conclusion, the authors present an overview of the implications that the evolution of service trips and the dynamics of logistification have for urban mobility and public policies. Policymakers play a crucial role in optimizing service trips. They oversee parking and charging infrastructure policies and can facilitate the planning of urban buffer stocks. Importantly, policymakers are increasingly positioned as key players in framing public project specifications.
Historically, logistics regulations through project specifications have been limited to large-scale projects like the Olympics or the Greater Paris Express metro. However, these regulations could also be applied to more routine public projects, such as building construction or road maintenance. Policymakers could support the development of services that reduce urban traffic, assuming their effectiveness can be demonstrated.
Future research will explore the evolving role of public stakeholders as logistics regulators may find themselves with little choice but to rely on these solutions in the coming years. In many ways, the logistification of service trips is part of a broader transformation in urban mobility, with e-commerce deliveries marking the initial phase. As information costs continue to decrease and transportation costs rise, it is plausible to hypothesize that an increasing number of urban mobility functions will undergo logistification in the years ahead.