Initiatives & experiences from Frenchcities (organizational aspects)

Arnaud LAGRANGE GART

Environment, Planning and Freight Department Head assistant

BESTUFS II – Vienna, September 22nd 2006

What is GART? Be the public spokesperson for local councils, as well as their representatives to institutions, the government, parliament, organs of the European Union, and the press.Offer its members economic, financial, judicial and technical advice and expertise.Stimulate and animate transportation debates through the proposal of innovative and practical solutions.Federate the players in transportation administration.

Objective: Better living and commuting through development of the public transport sector.

Why innovate in urban freight?

Urban freight transport: 15% of vehicles movements, 20% of roadway system occupancy, 40% of energy balance. Conflicts on the roadway system between passengers (individual cars & public transports) and freight transport, while deliveries have an important role in local economy. There is a lack of links between local authorities, shopkeepers, city centre managers (when they exist), etc. Institutional barriers: rules to access are under the competence of the Mayor while there is a reinforcement of the agglomeration competences in France for passengers transport.

How is urban freight carried out? (1)

Legislation & regulation:Legislation & regulation:Local authorities have no legal competences to organize freight transport. However, there is a specific legal Code that entrusts to the Mayor a competence for traffic and parking regulation. So each mayor can restrict the access to the city to some vehicles and practice a specific regulation for loading and unloading. Different kinds of regulation currently exist: weight, size, environmental (few).

How is urban freight carried out? (2)

In 1996, the Air Clean and Rational Energy makes compulsory for all urban areas the PDU (Urban transport and mobility plans.

The new urban Solidarity and Renewal Act (SRU law) has increased PDUs impact on freight planning.

All deal with urban freight with some experiments included. But they were few.

How is urban freight carried out? (3)

But many devote one specific chapter and fail to integrate freight with other urban mobility issues (parking, urban planning, etc.).

However, some technical systems to regulate the access for delivery bays exist (retractable bollards, chains,…).

Initiatives of local Initiatives of local authoritiesauthorities andandimpacts… impacts… ::

Regulation and consultation proceeding

Focus on Montpellier and Paris

Montpellier

Montpellier (1)The objective consists in finding solutions to harmonize deliveries in order to get a better local quality of life. Montpellier is a city which has developed its tertiary sector and where conflicts exist due to the urban sprawl essentially between activities in the centre and in the suburbs:

commercial conflicts (the inner city is more difficult to deliver, which offers a comparative advantage for companies located in the suburbs), residential conflicts (the inhabitants who live in the city-centre undergo nuisances due to thermal vehicles).

Montpellier (2)1st step:1st step: the objective of that project is to promote the use of electric vehicles in the pedestrian precinct.

22ndnd step:step: the municipality plans to extend that rule FOR GNV (Natural Gas) vehicles and other fuel-alternative ones.

So, on May 18th 2006, the city of Montpellier has voted a new freight access regulation for the city-centre.

The inner-city is a large pedestrian zone (25 km) without neither car-parks nor delivery bays. Therefore, the city has to manage between pedestrians flees (a peak at noon) and the need of delivering.

Montpellier (3)

After 10am, only electric commercial vehicles (length < 3.50m and width < 1.60m) allow to access from 9.00 am to 12 am and from 2.00 pm to 7 pm.

By the fact, as unloading are often organized in the afternoon, only electric vehicles can operate, which creates a specific market for transporters.

The technology used to access is quite easy.

Montpellier (4)

Technology used :

Pay and display machines with an intercom are located at the main entrances of the pedestrian areas and deliverymen have to take a ticket to that points.

By the fact, it gives easier the control by the municipal police (better enforcement).

Montpellier (5)

Montpellier is getting involved in an Agenda 21.

That project is built thanks to a local representative impulsion and links the main actors in a city (local authorities, residents, associations, traders, State, researchers, etc.).

That project is linked with a stationary and town planning policies.

In that field, the municipality has considered urban freight like a real component of the Agenda 21.

Montpellier (6)

The novelty / originality of the experience of Montpellier is in the integration of an environmental parameter in the regulation for a specific area (eq. LEZ).Those new rules apply to all vehicles with an engine, two-wheeled vehicles included inside that area. An informal consultation instance was created between the city, the agglomeration, transporters,… Those meetings take place every 3 months, to speak about urban freight strategies.

Montpellier (7)

Outlook

The city plans to write a regulation which would include all fuel-alternative vehicles. The city plans to extend the regulation on the whole city (not only for the pedestrian precinct). Harmonization with the city of the agglomeration? Follow the public/private partnership. The environmental regulation is a way to reduce subcontracting working with bad conditions. One society has just start equipping its fleet with electrical vehicles to collect money (funds). In 18 months, all its fleet will be equipped.

Paris

The city of Paris

City of Paris: 2.125 million inh., with a high density (> 24.000 m²) and 1.600.000 inh.Region Ile-de-France, freight accounts for 25% of transport energy consumption and > 50% of diesel consumption. The city engaged to offer a better quality of life, which means a reduction of noises in general. It is writing its own Urban mobility master Plan which includes a freight part. In March 2005, the city has signed the AalborgCharter.

Paris (1)

The city has signed in June 29th 2006 a local Charter between local authorities (city, region), association of stakeholders, transporters, shopkeepers,… That charter started in 2002 with a large consultation proceeding based on 5 goals:

Reduction of environmental impacts due to freight transport Better management of public areas for delivering Experimentation of logistics tools to help deliverymen Development of the economic and social efficiency to improve deliverymen work Reinforcement of Paris economic attractiveness.

Paris (2)

The core objective of that project is to get a better environment respect in terms of polluting emissions, use of the roadway system, and a noise reduction. Another goals: to get professional urban freight distribution and to improve enforcement. So :

a new access regulation (integration of Euro norms) A better control with the use of a time-disc (for 30’). That one is also an excellent key to communicate on the in-place regulation. A better acceptation of the rules can give more economical attractiveness to the city.

Paris (3)

In parallel, some experiments/innovations are developed:

Deliveries with specific electric-assistance bikes : La Petite Reine. Small delivering boxes for BtoB: Consignity (reduction of CO2 emissions due to a reduction of journeys done by some workers who need to go far to take parcels). Etc.

La petite Reine

La petite Reine

Identification

Dispatching

Information processing system + interface with Consignity

B2BEmployee during his

time working

Consignity

Consignity

Consignity

Evaluation & outlook (1)

The consultation was a good occasion for public and private partners to work together. A Charter following-up committee is in progress. The new access regulation permits to better adapt deliverymen work into the traffic. Specific rules for craftsmen coming from suburbs (they could be considered like residents when they work in Paris). But there is a weak point concerning the difficulty to apply some rules. January 1st 2007 from January 1st 2009: Euro4 norms. Euro 5 from 1st 2010. That calendar is difficult to adapt.

Evaluation & outlook (2)

In the future: a better integration of urban freight in local master plans can be expected and a better take into account of the main actors’ wishes.

The city of Paris is planning urban development projects with an urban regeneration. Urban freight are included.

Initiatives of local authorities :

Consultation proceeding in progress New services for delivering

Other examples (Lyon, Toulouse, Chambéry)

What’s on other cities?

A survey – currently in progress by the GART (2006) –shows: more and more cities are thinking about the establishment of environmental rules for delivering (Langres, Montpellier, Paris, Toulouse, Lyon,…). But, generally speaking, few municipalities have ever chosen that parameter to access. Well then, it is one of the better way to develop technical or organizational innovations.

Toulouse

Toulouse (1)

The city is testing a new concept for clean deliveries. It consists in using clean vehicles for urban deliveries from an urban distribution centre. That project includes a change of the city access regulation. It is partially possible thanks to a partnership with Chronopost (a subsidiary of La Poste Group), and it is a part of CIVITAS II European project.

Toulouse (2)

Toulouse has just created a new access control in the inner city. They are called « Controlled delivery bays » (“Espacede livraisons contrôlés”) and have been installed in the inner city. They are delimited by flexible and moveable terminals. They are controlled by the municipal police and used on the morning for loadings / unloadings, and for pedestrians on the afternoon (opened at 5 am to 11 am).

Toulouse

City of Toulouse

Lyon

Lyon

The city of Lyon is involving in that field. Consultation proceeding by the association of economic actors (CCI). They wrote 5 propositions:

Enforcement and security Better delivering bays organization Time windows for specific vehicles Urban distribution centreEasier access.

To promote harmonization and federate freight actors.

Conclusion In France, innovations in urban freight are quite rare. The environmental parameter is a key to find solutions. One of the main problem: passengers and freight transports are often decoupled. Lack of consultation between public and private partners. The current experiments are keys to reduce “bad subcontracting”, develop new markets and to make emerge the use of non polluting vehicles. BUT all the innovations presented here are supported by private and public partners, so it sounds good for their evolution.

More information:

www.gart.orgwww.tmv.transports.equipement.gouv.fr

www.ademe.frwww.toulouse.fr

www.montpellier.frwww.lyon.frwww.paris.fr