Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The next project, entitled BESTUFS II [BES] (2005-2008) was based on the
observation that the most innovative urban areas, which apply the city logistical
solutions (CLS), tend to be in large towns or capital cities. These larger urban
communities have the resources to access the support of innovative transport
solutions, participate in city networks and exchange knowledge and experience. The
small and medium sized urban areas are, in this regard, at a disadvantage and often
act in a limited range, as they are comparatively isolated, seen from a European
perspective. It is also common that their local representatives encounter language
problems which limit them in the study of the experiences of other European cities.
The partners of BESTUFS II identify such difficulties and aim to broaden the
existing BESTUFS network to include medium sized zones in Europe. If diffusion
of information to all is a priority objective, particular attention is given to
transmission to small urban areas and its use within them. It was the intention of
BESTUFS II to establish a series of practical CLS guides and to translate into
national languages to be able to be used as raw material by the BESTUFS II
representatives in the field. It is a matter of establishing a bridge of knowledge and
exchange of experience between the local and European communities.
This need for testing and dissemination of good practices is the subject of
several European projects, such as
CityLog (7
th
PCRD project, notified in 2008 and
which began in September 2009 for a three year period) [CIT]. The main partners of
the project are Fiat, Iveco, TNT, Volvo, Piemont, Berlin Europlateform. The city of
Lyon is participating in the experiment with Berlin and Turin, for the question of
deliveries in city, with the objective of testing three innovative solutions:
-evolutive vehicle (logistics and routing/dynamicity/interoperability of
vehicles);
- loadable modules;
- delivery and collection (recovery).
Among the solutions experimented with, the use of the tricycle for the “last
kilometer” is part of the project. We see that the project attempts to cover the whole
life of a parcel: long distance routing by large truck, then decanting and delivery in
town either by trucks or vans, even motorbikes or tricycles. All of these aspects
correspond to specific instances of the generic vision expressed by e-Truck and the
different avenues of which must be explored and appreciated from the point of view
of utility, usability and technical, political and in particular social acceptability. The
role of mobile computing is vital.
