The deployment of urban logistics solutions from research, development and pilot results. Lessons from the FREILOT Project

The deployment of urban logistics solutions is one of the main pending questions in the field of urban goods transport research and practice. Indeed, although several solutions and projects have been tested in the last years, only few of them reach an operational phase and remain viable in time. Through the example of a recently finished demonstration project, this paper presents the main issues related to the deployment of urban logistics solutions form research and development results. More precisely, this paper aims to focus on how the conclusions of pilot actions can be used to forecast the possibilities of deployment for an urban logistics service. First, we present the main stages in deploying a technological or organizational solution, based on the FREILOT project's deployment research and analysis. Then, one of the analysed technologies in the project is presented: the delivery space booking service. After presenting the main business model elements, an example of cost-benefit analysis is proposed, defining the method and the main hypotheses, as well as the main conclusions from the analysis. Then, the main barriers to the deployment of delivery space boking devices are presented. Finally, the paper shows a set of guidelines for public authorities and transport practitioners to deploy urban logistics solutions.