OVERALL IMPACTS OF OFF-HOUR DELIVERY PROGRAMS IN THE NEW YORK CITY METROPOLITAN AREA

摘要

This paper discusses the chief findings of the research conducted on policies to foster off-hourdeliveries (OHD) in the New York City metropolitan area that estimated the overall impacts of aneventual full implementation of an OHD program. As part of the research, the team designed a system ofincentives to the receivers of deliveries, combined with remote sensing monitoring based on GlobalPositioning System (GPS) cellphones, to induce a shift of deliveries to the off-hours (7PM-6AM). Theconcept was pilot tested in Manhattan by 33 companies that switched delivery operations to the off-hoursfor a period of a month. At the in-depth-interviews conducted after the test, the participants reported beingvery satisfied with the experience. This is the first real life trial of the use of financial incentives toreceivers, as an alternative to road pricing schemes that target freight carriers.The analyses conducted by the team indicate that: (1) financial incentives to receivers are veryeffective in inducing a shift of receivers and carriers to the off-hours; (2) the switch of truck traffic to theoff-hours brings about substantial economic benefits; (3) on average, travel speeds from the depot to thefirst customer in Manhattan increase from 11.8 miles/hour in the morning peak hours (6-9AM), to 20.2 inthe off-hours (7PM-6AM); (4) on average, customer to customer travel speeds increase from below 3miles per hour in the regular hours, to about 8 miles per hour in the off-hours; (5) there are substantialreductions in service times during the off-hours from a maximum of 1.8 hours per customer at 10AM, to aminimum of 0.5 hours in the night hours; and (6) travel time savings to regular hour traffic are substantialas they amount to 6% travel time reductions in Manhattan (4% if the increase in travel time during offhoursis considered). The pilot test also highlighted the great potential of unassisted OHD, i.e., OHDmade without personnel from the receiving establishment present, as almost all the participants that usedthis modality decided to continue receiving OHD even after the financial incentive ended. Shouldappropriate technologies and operational procedures be designed so that large number of receiversembrace unassisted OHD, they could be implemented at a fraction of the cost of staffed OHD.The analyses indicated that the economic benefits of a full implementation of an OHD program are inthe range of $147-$193 million per year corresponding to travel time and environmental pollution savingsfor the regular hour traffic, and the productivity increases to the freight industry. In the case of staffedOHD, the optimal incentive amount is on the range between $10,000 and $15,000 per year, whichcorrespond to 14%-21% of the total freight traffic. Beyond this range, the costs to receivers associatedwith the switch to the off-hours are much larger than the economic benefits that off-hour deliveriesproduce. In the case of unassisted OHD, since the receiver costs are much smaller, the optimal amount ofOHD is likely to be much larger than the one for staffed OHD.