Reducing the impact of increased freight in urban environments

How might we reduce the impact of our rapidly growing urban freight task and door-to-door deliveries on our urban environments and people?

The growth of e-commerce, with individual parcels delivered to customer’s doors, coupled with an increase in the freight task more generally, has led to a huge increase in Aotearoa New Zealand’s urban freight.

Kiwis spent more than $2.2 billion on physical goods online during the first quarter of 2022. That is 31 percent up on the first quarter of 2021, and more than double the amount spent just three years ago. This represents a seismic shift in our behaviour over a remarkably short period of time.

These changes are leading to the use of more vehicles to meet the increasing demand for deliveries, especially within our city centres and neighbourhoods. If not well managed, this, when coupled with increased housing intensification, risks adding to congestion, environmental and safety issues. It could also have a negative impact on things like air quality, noise and our streetscapes - due to parking and unloading issues.

We are looking for innovative solutions to ensure that the growth of urban freight does not negatively affect our environment and people.

Future of Delivery: Unleashing the potential of micromobility for the last mile NZ Post e-Commerce In-sights Q3 2022(external link)

Round two will open for applications on 20 February 2023 and close 24 March 2023.

Other round two challenges

• How might we make roadworks safer and smarter to protect workers and other users of the road network?
• How might we improve the safe and efficient movement of people and goods that are using different modes in the same space, by making better use of new technologies and data?