challenges facing express delivery services in canada's urban centres

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Institute of Housing & Mobility Challenges facing the EDS industry in Canada's urban centres order to minimize road delays allowing for efficient road-based goods transportation. The document also includes a section dedicated to the issue of parking, something integral to the courier industry. Even with these identified issues, the document fails to mention the words “courier”, “messenger” or “express delivery”. Montréal The City of Montréal produced an elaborate Transportation Plan in 2007. The document promotes Montréal’s location as a transportation hub, which includes good highway access, a strong railway presence, an airport, and the important Port of Montréal. The document makes many mentions of the importance of goods truck traffic, and the issues associated with it. But it is clear that the emphasis is on heavy and LTL transportation, with no mention of the needs of lighter operations. The document calls for the adoption of a parking policy for the city, which would recognize the need to “ensure the delivery of goods” (Page 105). The document also mentions the need to limit and control commercial traffic in the city, stating that “Montréal wants to control the weight and the size of trucks as well as delivery zones and schedules within certain predetermined perimeters including the city centre” (Page 127). The words “courier”, “messenger” and “express delivery” are not found in this document. Summary and Discussion Recent transportation plans in Canada’s largest cities indicate that there is a explicit planning focus on decreasing traffic congestion in cities (especially the downtown core), shortening commuter and delivery trip distances, and reducing pollution. In particular, policies are generally being designed to reduce delays in traffic flows on both arterial and major throughways, especially in and near residential areas. The two most widely cited reasons for this policy direction are the needs to improve neighbourhood vitality and reduce carbon emissions. In order to meet these goals a fairly consistent set of directives are laid out. First, several plans identify the need for future commercial development to be more compact and closely-linked with distribution centres. Secondly, improvements to transit efficiency and traffic flows are emphasized, such as by limiting delays to traffic caused by street parking. In order to meet the second directive, plans often indicate that enforcement of strict parking regulations can reduce traffic delays. Montreal, for example, calls for the expansion of its parking regulation model to the surrounding urban region. The review of the transportation plans also indicates that despite commonly stated goals of improving commercial transport activity, most transportation regulations may impose additional barriers for the EDS industry. Most of the discussion of goods movement is focused on large freight transportation and improving – and restricting – goods movement access to major roads outside of residential areas. The plans, on the other hand, rarely discuss the need for improving transportation access for courier services, and almost never by name (see Table 10). Page 20
Institute of Housing & Mobility Challenges facing the EDS industry in Canada's urban centres TABLE 10: COMMERCIAL/COURIER ISSUES IN CANADIAN METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION PLANS City No. of Pages on Goods Movement % of Plan on Goods Movement Vancouver 3 5.4 No Calgary 2 3.3 No Edmonton 7 7.1 No Winnipeg 1 1.7 No Refers to ‘Couriers’ ‘Messengers’ or ‘Express Delivery’? Hamilton 3 4.8 Yes (“air courier”) Toronto 2 1.8 Yes (“courier”) Ottawa 3 3.0 No Montreal 1 0.9 No The implication of this is that courier routes are not being acknowledged as priorities for improving access for goods movement. Instead, the plans intend to restrict the types of uses that couriers require – a ready supply of street parking and sufficient parking times for delivering goods. Both of these requirements are currently being seen as urban traffic problems with little consideration of their importance for the efficient and timely delivery of 700 million packages in Canada. It is also apparent that goods movement, in general, is not a major topic of transportation plans in Canada. With the exception of Vancouver, Edmonton, and Hamilton, discussions of goods movement issues never amount to more than 4 percent of transportation plan documents (Table 10). Conclusions from review of transport plans Based on the review of current municipal transport plans, we conclude that urban transportation policy in Canada’s major cities is moving towards restricting the availability of transportation required for a vigorous courier industry. For one, the place of courier services is rarely addressed in direct terms. This is probably on account of the lack of knowledge of the size and significance of courier services in commercial activity and the general vitality of cities. Minimal recognition is given the existence of courier operations, while at worst couriers are treated as an inconvenience that should be expunged from congested central business districts. The few references that are made to courier-type transportation are focussed on controlling and limiting the activity. What is emphasised is a need to protect traffic flow and to limit deliveries to specific zones. Page 21
Page 1 and 2: CHALLENGES FACING EXPRESS DELIVERY
Page 3 and 4: Institute of Housing & Mobility Cha
Page 27: Institute of Housing & Mobility Cha

challenges facing express delivery services in canada's urban centres

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?