The role of crowdshipping in sustainable city logistics

Abstract

In recent years, city logistics has gained more and more importance. Cities are faced with numerous challenges, such as the increase in the number of inhabitants, the increase in exhaust gas emissions, the increase in noise in urban areas, traffic congestion, etc. In terms of logistics, there has been an increase in delivery vehicles in traffic, a lack of parking spaces, infrastructure problems such as traffic bottlenecks, locating and building distribution centers, etc. The growth of e-commerce drastically affects the number of delivery vehicles and the effects they bring. A potential solution, based on the principles of sustainable development, which would have an impact on the city's economy and environment in the future, is crowdshipping. This solution represents the integration of passenger and freight traffic. Using the strategy of the sharing economy, crowdshipping is based on an already existing transport network in which passengers, in addition to traveling for their own needs, get an additional role as needed, which is most often reflected in the form of transport, i.e. the delivery of cargo/small goods. The advantages of this model are great both for ordinary citizens and for companies whose shipments/cargo are transported every day, as well as for courier operators.