The potential demand for a urban freight consolidation centre

This paper reports the results of a stated-preference study aimed at investigating how transport decisions are made by receivers or by transport operators about the potential use of an urban freight consolidation centre in the city of Fano, Italy. Because there are no revealed preference data, a stated-choice methodology is used. The stated-choice experiments present two alternatives—one using a private vehicle subject to various traffic regulations and one using the urban freight consolidation centre with varying cost and efficiency levels. Conventional discrete choice data modelling shows that the potential demand is influenced mainly by the distance of the parking bay from the shop, by access permit cost, by the service cost of the urban freight consolidation centre, and by the delay in delivery time. Simulations are then performed to assess how the potential demand is affected by various incentives and regulations affecting urban goods distribution.

Edoardo MarcucciEmail:

---

Edoardo Marcucci   is Associate Professor of Applied Economics at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Roma Tre, Italy, General Secretary of the Italian Society of Transportation Economists, and co-founder of the Kuhmo—Nectar Conference and Summer School Series on Pricing, Financing, Regulating Transport Infrastructures and Services. He has studied freight transportation concentrating on interactions along logistic supply chains. Romeo Danielis   is Full Professor at the University of Trieste, Italy. He is managing editor of European TransportTrasporti Europei. He has published articles on input-output modelling, regional environmental policy, social costing of transport externalities, EU enlargement and on several transport issues including road pricing, the Down-Thompson paradox, energy use and CO₂ emissions, freight transport demand and stated preferences.