Retiming for Freight and Servicing
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Retiming Freight and servicing to outside of peak periods assists to improve local placemaking and/or increase the capacity that a facility or resource can accommodate.
Recent trends means that freight traffic is increasing. Simultaneously the facilities to accommodate the increased traffic, particularly in our urban centres, are reducing. In addition, planning for urban centres is taking a more people centric approach. While there is an acknowledged requirement to plan for freight, there is also the desire to reduce traffic levels. An approach to both the increase in traffic or the reduction in facilities is to “flatten the peak” to accommodate more traffic off-peak including overnight.
Retiming deliveries to increase efficiency
As an urban area undergoes a transformation to accommodate for future growth, businesses and their deliverers need to work together to investigate changing some of the ways they do things. Driving and delivering in city centres is becoming more challenging, particularly during the morning and afternoon peak periods. On-street parking space, including loading zones, has decreased and will not return to its previous levels.
We have worked with businesses and their delivery companies on trials that involve changing some deliveries to times outside peak periods. This has demonstrated the effectiveness of retiming, identify and resolve issues and demonstrate how challenges can be overcome. The documents at the bottom of this page include a retiming information sheet and some case studies about businesses that are already experiencing the benefits of operating outside peak periods.
Travel Tips – Making Deliveries
- Work with customers to establish alternative delivery times outside the peak.
- Book delivery times into loading docks as required.
- Avoid looking for loading zones in peak times. This can mean excessive walking or circling the block.
- Enquire to customers about the ability to drop off goods outside of hours at a secure location
- Consider a central bulk delivery location that can be accessed early and from where deliveries can be completed on foot, bike or other micrologistics approaches.
Travel Tips – Trades and Services Workers
- Identify parking locations that allow adequate time for you to complete your task.
- Organise parking in advance with customers.
- Ask that tasks and building access be scheduled away from peak periods when there is less pressure on journey times and parking.
- Work with customers to establish secure drop-off points for tools and materials, allowing time to locate off-street parking.
Contact
For more information contact freight@transport.nsw.gov.au.