Understanding the transport and CO2 impacts of on-demand meal deliveries: A London case study

Allen, Julian; Piecyk, Maja; Cherrett, Tom; Juhari, Muhammad Nabil; McLeod, Fraser; Piotrowska, Marzena; Bates, Oliver; Bektaş, Tolga; Cheliotis, Kostas; Friday, Adrian; Wise, Sarah

doi:10.1016/j.cities.2020.102973

Cited by 39 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Average distances traveled or speeds are poorly documented. Based on data from a major on-demand platform provider, Allen et al [3] record that the mean one-way trip distance for meal delivery was 2 km at 5.5 km per hour in Greater London in 2017, and that meal deliveries by car and motorized two-wheelers were associated with higher emissions and curb occupancy than with bicycles.…”

Section: Mobility Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We lack information on the number of delivery runs, hours and kilometers per day, the number of platforms for which the couriers work, their average income, the transportation modes used, etc. However, the rapid development of platform-based delivery raises new challenges for authorities concerning the impacts on safety and accidents, traffic growth, the carbon footprint of the transportation modes used [2,3,10,38,42,48]. An area in which progress has recently been made is safety, with risk-taking on the road and accidents having been the subject of research in the last couple of years [24][25][26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Platform-based food delivery in Paris before and during the pandemic: profile, motivations and mobility patterns of couriers

Aguiléra¹,

Dablanc²,

Krier

et al. 2022

Eur. Transp. Res. Rev.

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Background Platform-based fast delivery is developing rapidly in many cities across the world, especially in the food sector. Yet knowledge about the characteristics and the activity patterns of delivery couriers is scarce, especially in terms of their mobility behavior. Methodology Based on two questionnaire surveys conducted in 2020 and 2021 with 300 and 500 couriers respectively, this article analyses the profiles, motivations and mobility patterns of couriers working in Paris (France), with a focus on the impacts of the pandemic. Results First, the analysis of the profiles and motivations of couriers reveals that platform-based delivery is largely a temporary activity performed by young males of foreign origin, and undertaken as a student job or an entry to the labor market. Second, data on mobility patterns confirm that platform-based delivery is a dangerous activity with a high risk of road accidents. Moreover, many couriers break the law in order to increase their income by using motorized two-wheelers that are not legally permitted in France. We also show the use of shared bikes, which seems to be a great support tool for couriers who are starting work in this sector or have a problem with their own bikes. Third, the pandemic prompted many students to become platform-based delivery couriers in order to compensate for the lack of student jobs. It also worsened the working conditions of the majority of platform-based couriers. These findings raise new urban policy challenges and also new avenues for research in terms of topics and methods.

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Section: Mobility Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Platform-based food delivery in Paris before and during the pandemic: profile, motivations and mobility patterns of couriers

Aguiléra¹,

Dablanc²,

Krier

et al. 2022

Eur. Transp. Res. Rev.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As for the O2O food delivery service [1], by virtue of various mobile devices and smart terminals with seamless access to Internet, it gathers individual customers, local restaurants, and delivery couriers together on an online platform, on which customers can search and order various foods; then, the orders are prepared and delivered offline by the corresponding restaurants and couriers. Similar service modes that involve ordering online and delivering offline may be called different things in the literature, such as restaurant meal delivery problem [13,14], on-demand food delivery [15], on-demand meal delivery [16], online food delivery problem [2], and virtual food court delivery problem [6]. Here, more generally, we name them O2O food delivery, following [1].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Workload-Balancing Order Dispatch Scheme for O2O Food Delivery with Order Splitting Choice

Wang

Zhou

Zhang

2022

JTAER

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Online-to-offline (O2O) food delivery service refers to an emerging modern business model that enables customers to order foods from local restaurants via an online platform, and then receive and enjoy them offline after the delivery, offered by couriers. Such service, discussed in this article, specifies that a customer can order from multiple restaurants in a single order and choose for them to be delivered together or separately, whereas the commonly discussed mode only permits placing an order in one restaurant at once. In this service, one crucial issue is how to dispatch these orders to couriers for offline delivery. For this, we propose a new three-stage order dispatch scheme, namely, pseudo-assign first, re-route second, and courier selection last, aiming to deliver the orders in time and balance the couriers’ workload. Due to the dynamism and uncertainty inherently involved in this issue, we also take responsiveness to future demands and robustness into consideration when making the dispatch. Compared with existing approaches, the new one significantly balances the couriers’ workload and, meanwhile, keeps good performance in delay rate, making the decisions more practical. Furthermore, this study analyzes the influence of customers’ preference for order splitting and number of couriers on the efficiency of the distribution system, thereby interesting managerial insights for O2O food delivery are revealed.

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“…Grocery delivery performed better in terms of GHGe and energy use compared with individual retail trips when assuming they are made by car but not on foot, by bike or public transport 48 . Meal delivery had a lower performance than preparing the meal at home or consuming it at the restaurant 49,50 , mainly attributed to plastic food packaging waste generated by delivered meals 51 . Research demonstrates that walking to the restaurant and consuming the meal there instead of having it delivered could reduce the total amount of GHGe by 68% per meal 50 .…”

Section: Fdmentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic scoping review of the sustainability of vertical farming, plant-based alternatives, food delivery services and blockchain in food systems

et al. 2022

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Food system technologies (FSTs) are being developed to accelerate the transformation towards sustainable food systems. Here we conducted a systematic scoping review that accounts for multiple dimensions of sustainability to describe the extent, range and nature of peer-reviewed literature that assesses the sustainability performance of four FSTs: plant-based alternatives, vertical farming, food deliveries and blockchain technology. Included literature had a dominant focus on environmental sustainability and less on public health and socio-economic sustainability. Gaps in the literature include empirical assessments on the sustainability of blockchain technology, plant-based seafood alternatives, public health consequences of food deliveries and socio-economic consequences of vertical farming. The development of a holistic sustainability assessment framework that demonstrates the impact of deploying FSTs is needed to guide investments in and the development of sustainable food innovation.

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Understanding the transport and CO2 impacts of on-demand meal deliveries: A London case study

Cited by 39 publications

References 18 publications

Platform-based food delivery in Paris before and during the pandemic: profile, motivations and mobility patterns of couriers

Platform-based food delivery in Paris before and during the pandemic: profile, motivations and mobility patterns of couriers

A Workload-Balancing Order Dispatch Scheme for O2O Food Delivery with Order Splitting Choice

A systematic scoping review of the sustainability of vertical farming, plant-based alternatives, food delivery services and blockchain in food systems

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