challenges facing express delivery services in canada's urban centres

Institute of Housing & Mobility
Challenges facing the EDS industry in Canada's urban centres
used by EDS. And lastly, the expensive adjustments required to retrofit the light rail stops and
street configuration for loading and off loading freight may make this option unviable.
Unfortunately the above-mentioned strategies have not been proven to be fully effective
wherever they are used. They are being adjusted and adapted in various cities to work to their
full potential. It is often difficult to take a strategy that works in one location and transfer it
elsewhere with the same results because there are many unique factors specific to each city.
Strategies must be developed for specific cities with the cooperation of all involved parties.
Consider the case of UCC in Canada. First, most EDS operators have their hubs located in urban
areas from which they serve the urban markets. Some EDS operators have their hubs located
within 2-km of the CBD. However, large scale location of hubs in downtowns is unlikely to result in
improved efficiencies and lower congestion. This is because the in-bound traffic of larger trucks
would then increase to downtowns. The large sized trucks are used to serve the hubs where
parcels, letters , and packages are moved to smaller vehicles for delivery to final destination.
While the urban consolidation centres worked well in some cities, they failed in others. This was
either due to poor implementation or the general inappropriateness of this system in that city.
One theme that is inconsistent in the literature is the importance of the cooperation of the private
and public sectors in planning solutions to urban freight issues. This is vital in order to make
decisions that will represent the best interest of all involved parties.
Concluding comments from literature review
The purpose of the literature review was to examine what strategies to improve urban logistics
have been successful in Canada and other jurisdictions. The second purpose of the review was to
determine if experiences from other jurisdictions could be repeated in Canada. With all the
challenges facing freight carriers, they have always managed to make adjustments to deal with
them. Communities are constantly trying to deal with congestion issues and environmental concerns,
leaving the freight industry struggling to maintain profits in an increasingly competitive market
(Taniguchi, 2002).
Some strategies outlined in this literature review may prove to be effective in reducing congestion
thereby making streets in urban cores easier to navigate. Unfortunately, most strategies observed
in other jurisdictions attempt to reduce congestion by making it more difficult for freight vehicles to
operate. Large truck bans often do not affect express deliveries; however they do force regular
freight operators to make deliveries at times that are often not ideal. This leads to additional
costs that must be passed down to the end consumers.
The literature review suggests that most strategies do not consider the adverse impact of
interventions on EDS. It is apparent that if strategies were devised in a more participatory
environment, EDS companies would be involved in the planning and development of strategies to
combat urban congestion.
Most research in urban freight focuses on LTL freight, which mostly comprises large item deliveries
to retail locations and shipments between businesses. Express and courier deliveries are very
poorly represented in the literature. This area of research requires in-depth analysis to ensure
that stopgap measures, such as banning all commercial vehicles from urban core in peak hours of
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