e-Track system will make delivery of light goods in Kalamaria smarter
The Supporting Urban Integrated Transport Systems project (SUITS) will use smart data to optimize urban logistics and make urban freight more resource-efficient, first by researching opportunities and then through demonstration projects in Turin (Italy) and Kalamaria (Greece).
Turin is promoting innovative approaches to achieve a sustainable freight transport strategy and to reduce the environmental impact of urban logistics by 20% in 2020. Kalamaria has an intense network of recreation, touristic and business activities, with a lack of integrated urban freight policy and strategic planning for providing urban freight infrastructure.
One of the technologies used for demonstrations in Kalamaria will be the “e-Track” telemetry system, which records and transmits data from cargo vehicles. This system is based on GPS technology, and periodically records vehicles’ positions, offering information such as: distance covered by each vehicle, duration, speed and duration of stops. The “e-Track” equipment, already used in Greek logistics company MAKIOS’s Large Goods Vehicles, will be installed in Light Goods Vehicles to perform urban freight deliveries in Kalamaria.
SUITS aims to make urban freight smarter by identifying current shortcomings and gaps and to explore opportunities to better integrate of passenger and freight traffic information, in order to optimize urban logistics and minimize the use of resources (e.g. number of vehicles, pollution, use of road space). Pilot projects such as the e-Track system will show the potential of integrating freight and citizen traffic flows. The project will also make use of available open data, legacy data, real time data gathering and crowdsourcing.
Urban freight is a critical issue in big and medium-sized European cities. It represents 10-20% of urban road traffic and 20-25% of road space use, producing external impacts such as noise, vibration and congestion. As presented in Urban Freight Roadmap, achieving a cleaner and more efficient urban logistics system requires better integration of urban freight both within the transport system and the city. Some previous projects, such as BESTUFS project, identified the need of local authorities (LAs) for more reliable, complete end-to-end journey information for all transport modes, and user groups, including freight movement.
