Sharing economy platforms for on-demand city logistics

More and more start-ups (e.g. Deliveroo) and larger companies (e.g. Amazon Prime Now) are offering on-demand delivery (ODD) of orders from e-shoppers through smartphone apps – with orders arriving in less than two hours – delivered by an extended network of independent delivery couriers. Among the options used by retail businesses for ODD, crowd logistics has gained importance and momentum in the last few years. With crowdsourcing logistics, the ODD is not performed by a dedicated logistics operator, but rather ordinary citizens – either individually or collectively – who coincide the shipping of parcels with their usual routes, using their own mode of transport (from bicycles to a motorbike or car).

With project partner Dropper, ULaaDS will explore the possibilities for bicycle couriers in physical-internet-based networks and experiments with various forms of organisation and control of bicycle transport between micro hubs. The ULaaDS cities will also find measures to stimulate innovative ODD by promoting the use of cargo bikes and urban consolidation centres, carefully locating these by considering local environmental and spatial quality, and integrated planning of logistics and spatial developments.

With this goal in mind, ULaaDS will explore ways to better integrate crowd logistics, by offering cargo bike sharing schemes available for all users so an individual can register as an independent contractor of the ODD platform and decide when and how often they want to work without having to purchase a cargo bike.