The case for shifting delivery times to off-peak hours
Recently, the Ulaanbaatar city administration announced that they are researching into the possibility of creating new regulations on truck deliveries. Specifically, city officials are looking into whether moving delivery times to before and after work hours could help reduce traffic congestion. The city’s already narrow and congested roads become even more convoluted with delivery trucks clogging up lanes for more than 15 to 20 minutes at a time. This only adds fuel to the fire of traffic congestion and has resulted in many urging city officials to regulate delivery sooner rather than later.
The problem of delivery trucks contributing to traffic stems from several factors that have mostly to do with city planning. First, the fact that Ulaanbaatar has narrow roads not designed to handle hundreds of thousands of cars is a significant factor. In addition, buildings have been commissioned and built in the last three decades with not much thought being put into future expansion. As a result, Ulaanbaatar has become more and more cramped and overcrowded. Most of the stores, companies, and service centers that receive deliveries do not have a designated parking area for their customers, let alone their suppliers.
...The problem of delivery trucks contributing to traffic stems from several factors that have mostly to
do with city planning...
More recently built supermarkets and other service buildings have a designated area where suppliers can park and quickly unload products. This is not where the problem lies. Obviously, the problem lies within the thousands of small grocery shops and small convenience booths nestled in a sea of crowded buildings. As suppliers have argued, delivery trucks have no choice but to obstruct traffic to unload their products. This is understandable from their perspective. If delivery truck drivers had the choice to avoid all the stress and arguments that arise from having to park on roads or walkways, they would probably happily do so.
It is hard to point fingers at any party in this situation. Essentially, everyone in this issue has become the victim of poor city planning. Albeit, there are many instances where stores could designate an area for product dropoffs and delivery trucks could make even a minimal effort to not obstruct traffic. The only concrete result would see city re-planning and demolition on such a large scale that it becomes unfeasible. As a result, city officials have been optimistic about potentially introducing new rules and regulations that would set a specific time frame for store restocking deliveries. Currently, proposals by the public include requiring suppliers to deliver before rush hour begins, which is usually 7:00 a.m. In response to this proposal, suppliers have argued that stores are unwilling to open in the early mornings, which is a valid argument. Therefore, if the city administration is to regulate that deliver trucks must deliver before 7:00 a.m., they must also regulate that stores must have at least a few employees to receive the products.
The other option, to deliver products after 8:00 p.m. is more feasible as many stores are open but concerns are held about the freshness of the product and the fact that some stores are closed at that time.
According to the Traffic Police Department, there are more than 67,999 delivery trucks operating in Ulaanbaatar. Specifically, 12,000 trucks operate around the city center. Frequent stops that tend to obstruct traffic by 12,000 trucks in the city center inevitably contribute significantly to the traffic congestion.
Outside of just traffic congestion, delivery and distribution of certain products including fuel, propane tanks, and other flammable objects are not regulated. This presents a significant threat to public safety and leaves the door open for disastrous accidents in the future.
A 2017 study by the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden found that lifting overnight deliveries reduce daytime congestion. In the Stockholm case, one truck did the work of three, during off peak hours. This is especially true in Ulaanbaatar’s case due to the license plate restriction. A supplier could use all of its trucks to finish deliveries quickly instead of only sending trucks that are allowed to be driving on the road. In addition, economically, the fuel saved from having to idle in traffic is alone significant.
In the case of Stockholm, there are restrictions on nighttime deliveries that leave distributors no choice but to dispatch trucks during morning rush hours. But lifting these rules could reduce peak traffic volumes and increase transport efficiency, the KTH found. Anna Pernestal Brenden, a researcher at KTH's Integrated Transport Research Laboratory, and acoustic, transport efficiency, and policy researchers from KTH, joined with other partners in a pilot study with the City of Stockholm to see if lifting the 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. ban on truck deliveries made sense.
In the study, a single truck delivered goods to three stores in central Stockholm between the prohibited hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. It would return to the warehouse three times in the night to be reloaded, and then make its subsequent delivery, Brenden says. "That's one truck doing the work of three, or in other words -morning commuters are spared having to share the road with three heavy duty trucks."
But part of the study was also to assess whether deliveries at night bothered neighbors. The drivers had to follow some rules: for example, no using reverse signals or talking on cell phones outside the vehicle. Also, two trucks equipped with low noise technology were used.
What was tested in this Swedish study could be tested in Ulaanbaatar and employed if found successful. This would obviously conflict with the suppliers and stores who might be opposed to having to pay more wages for employees distributing and receiving the products. But big picture wise, it is in the interest of the public to see that delivery times are shifted to offpeak hours. This would be a good step towards better city and road management for Ulaanbaatar.