Buledo Environmental impact and stakeholder analysis of a crowd logistics platform in Belgium Flashcards
What is crowd logistics?
Crowd logistics is a system where individuals (the “crowd”) use spare capacity in their vehicles to deliver parcels, rather than relying on traditional parcel delivery services.
How does crowd logistics relate to the sharing economy?
It leverages unused transportation capacity, similar to how Uber and Airbnb use excess resources for ride-sharing and accommodations.
Example: A commuter delivers a package along their usual route to work, reducing the need for additional delivery vehicles.
What are the expected environmental benefits of crowd logistics?
By using existing trips, crowd logistics is expected to reduce carbon emissions, lower traffic congestion, and improve sustainability.
What did the study find about the actual environmental impact of crowd logistics?
Contrary to expectations, crowd logistics currently results in higher external transport costs and a higher environmental impact than traditional parcel delivery due to many dedicated trips being made for parcel delivery instead of utilizing existing trips.
What is the Multi-Actor Multi-Criteria Analysis (MAMCA)?
MAMCA is a decision-making tool used to analyze the stakeholder support for different transport solutions, including crowd logistics.
Why do logistics service providers (LSPs) and society prefer traditional parcel delivery over crowd logistics?
LSPs rely on highly optimized and consolidated routes, reducing traffic and environmental impact. Society benefits more from lower congestion and pollution from efficient logistics networks rather than ad-hoc crowd deliveries.
What are some potential improvements to make crowd logistics more sustainable?
Increase the use of existing trips rather than dedicated delivery trips
Better parcel consolidation to reduce vehicle kilometers per delivery
Incentivize eco-friendly vehicle use, such as bikes or electric cars
How does crowd logistics compare to traditional parcel delivery in terms of external transport costs?
Traditional parcel companies consolidate deliveries efficiently, reducing vehicle use, whereas crowd logistics currently generates higher transport costs per parcel due to inefficient routing.
What role does the platform provider play in improving crowd logistics?
The platform provider can optimize operations, encourage better route planning, and introduce incentives to minimize the environmental impact.
What is a major challenge for crowd logistics in urban areas?
High traffic and inefficient routing make it difficult for crowd logistics to compete with traditional, optimized parcel delivery services.
