Urban Consolidation and Logistics Pooling - Sustainable Urban Logistics: Concepts, Methods and Information Systems - page 185

like Frosinone and Aosta have started to develop such systems. The only cases of
really big cities include Milan, where the public transport operator ATM used their
bus depots and other facilities to propose an urban freight delivery system, and
Naples, which set up a pilot project for an urban-regional rail distribution system.
The city of Rome considered the idea of developing a UCC network (Crainic et al.
2004 ), although the project was stopped after the preliminary study. We note most
of these experiments are financed by regional, national or European funds (mainly
related to research and development programs). Most Italian UCCs benefit from
strong support from public authorities. This support can take the form of financing
for operational management (Venezia-Mestre, Ferrara, Genova) or regulations to
increase the attractiveness of UCCs (Bologna, Modena, Parma, Vicenza). How-
ever, we found two particular cases where the contribution from public authorities
was limited to general regulation not directly benefiting the UCC distribution
system, but rather promoting green transport in city centres: that of Cityporto, a
network of UCCs inspired by the successful experience of Padua (presented
below) and the case of ATM in the city of Milan. The effort of the UCC in
Cityporto Padova is considered one of the most remarkable Italian successes and
will be presented in the next section. Concerning the UCC system in Milan (ATM
developed a network of three urban platforms in Milan with a dedicated fleet of
environmentally friendly vehicles), the system was operational between 2005 and
2008. It stopped because a major change in urban regulation forbade ATM to use
the bus corridors for freight distribution.
The French UCCs have been developed on similar lines (we include the UCC of
Monaco in this category for reasons of cultural and geographical proximity to
France). Note that in this country, a National Committee for Urban Goods
Transport was created in 1995 and is still operational, 1 facilitating the exchange
and promotion of good practices. Three main development periods relating to
UCCs can be defined:

• before 1995, several private experiments, like those of Paris or Aix-en-Provence
(near Marseilles) were carried out, but stopped for reasons of cost-effectiveness
or changes of strategy by the instigating companies;
• from 1995 to 2003, experiments were promoted by public authorities, mainly
with funding similar to that provided in Italy and from the angle of ''public
freight service'';
• after 2003, private and semi-private companies proposed last-mile distribution
services to transport operators based on UCC or similar platforms, like La Petite
Reine or Natoora, or big companies like Chronopost and Monoprix, which have
developed distribution schemes using private UCCs.

In France, we can observe three types of UCC: city-based UCCs, which are
related to an entire city or its historical centre (La Rochelle and Monaco are the
two

that still remain operational); area-based UCCs, more related to a

1

For more information, see http://www.transports-marchandises-en-ville.org/.