What About Delivery Trucks? Love Amazon Overnight Shipping?

We hear complaints about delivery trucks on Asbury Park’s Main Street all the time.  Some people have complained about them double parking, and some complain about new road diet and bike lanes because big delivery semi-trucks are having trouble parking. So. Are we designing a Main Street for delivery trucks or designing it for people?

Then there is also this problem about delivery trucks…

I admit it. I prefer shopping online for everything, from personal products like my eco-friendly bar shampoo and conditioner, to not so eco-friendly household items like paper towels and toilet paper. And there’s clothing of course, and my ever-growing collection of gym shoes.  I’ve learned that the vans and trucks that deliver my overnight orders are rented mid-sized trucks, driven by untrained drivers,  and they are causing pedestrian deaths.

Read on:

Every day, one in eight Americans is delivered something they bought on the internet, a number that’s expected to double within five years. …the growing number of U.S. deliveries and the price of that added congestion is rarely addressed in conversations about increasing emissions, traffic, or deaths—all issues that can be curbed by smaller delivery vehicles.

Delivery trucks are hurting cities. Can making them smaller help?

A chilling Amazon investigation shows the importance of “rightsizing” vehicles on our streets

“From waste disposal and utility trucks to delivery vans, large vehicles provide many of the basic services our communities depend on,” says Tom Maguire, sustainability director of San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency, in the NACTO report. “While large vehicles are a small fraction of vehicles on our streets, they are disproportionately involved in fatal crashes.”

Allowing large vehicles in cities creates a vicious circle, notes the NACTO report, as accommodating trucks becomes a reason to build wider streets that are more dangerous for all users. Larger vehicles are also more difficult to maneuver, meaning many trucks must double-park on city streets to make deliveries, blocking bike lanes and sidewalks, which has contributed to recent cyclist and pedestrian deaths.”

Read about it:

https://www.curbed.com/2019/9/11/20858457/amazon-delivery-vehicles-deaths-emissions

 

Bikes Are Faster Than Cars

Do you commute by bike? Maybe you’ve found out that it’s sometimes faster or almost as fast to get to your destination by bike than by car. And you don’t have to deal with parking! Now look at the trucks and delivery services lumbering along and (double) parked on your city streets. Maybe there’s a faster, more streamlined solution…

Delivery company Deliveroo and the routing algorithm they named”Frank” collected Smartphone data from riders and drivers schlepping meals for restaurant-to-home courier service. Turns out bicycles are faster than cars.

Data From Millions Of Smartphone Journeys Proves Cyclists Faster In Cities Than Cars And Motorbikes

Red more…

Can UPS (and other delivery companies) Do This In Asbury Park?

Cargo bikes are becoming the answer to delivering goods to businesses on city streets all over Europe. UPS  is starting up in Seattle where UPS started in Seattle in 1907 as a bicycle messenger company. The company said it is pursuing the experiment for both for sustainability and business reasons. Bike delivery is aimed at helping achieve climate goals and also reducing “dwell time” — idling in traffic — a nod to the efficiency of bike lanes, especially in crowded urban areas. This would be a great solution to concerns about double parked delivery trucks on Main Street in Asbury Park!

UPS to Test E-Bike Deliveries in Seattle

By Angie Schmitt 

Get ready for UPS in the bike lane — in a good way, finally. The global shipping company is testing out special e-bike cargo delivery in downtown Seattle and near the Pike Place Market.

The pilot program will use a specially made detachable trailer that can hold up to 400 pounds, using a bike that will powered by both pedals and electricity.

In a news release, the company said it is pursuing the experiment for both for sustainability and business reasons. Bike delivery is aimed at helping achieve climate goals and also reducing “dwell time” — idling in traffic — a nod to the efficiency of bike lanes, especially in crowded urban areas.

Read more…

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/10/30/ups-to-test-e-bike-deliveries-in-seattle/

Banning Cars

There are only 2 American cities among this list of 13 taking steps to reduce use of automotive vehicles. The US is in love with cars, particularly BIG cars, despite emissions and damage to the environment, and the fact that they are responsible for most pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and deaths.  Take a look at these cities without cars.  Thriving businesses and restaurants, people walking and on bikes, and few if any vehicles.  Wow, where do their delivery trucks park?

13 cities that are starting to ban cars

02 Mar 2018 Leanna Garfield

Germany’s highest administrative court ruled that, in an effort to improve urban air quality, cities can ban cars from some streets.

As the NYTimes notes, the ruling could open the floodgates for cities around the country to go car-free.

But German cities are not the only ones getting ready to take the car-free plunge. Urban planners and policy makers around the world have started to brainstorm ways that cities can create more space for pedestrians and lower CO2 emissions from diesel.

Here are 13 cities leading the car-free movement.

Oslo plans to permanently ban all cars from its city center by 2019 — six years before Norway’s country-wide ban would go into effect.

Read more…

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/03/13-cities-that-are-starting-to-ban-cars