Demonstration G: EMEL Lisbon: Municipal regulation of loading and unloading of freight

• Watch our video (published 1st Mar 2012, 2:30 mins)
• Go to our workshop report page
• See our results
• Publications:
  • Taking control (EMEL demonstration), Parking News magazine, Issue 322, August 2013, www.britishparking.co.uk. Access this document

The City of Lisbon has currently growing problems with unregulated loading/unloading activities, with road congestion and often blockage of roads (when trucks stop on narrow streets for quick loading/unloading activities) and illegal parking (like trucks and vans parked on sidewalks, double-parked, or parked on places for private cars, and private cars parked in places for freight operations). Furthermore there is no national legislation to regulate loading/unloading activities, nor efficient enforcement to regulate the traffic and parking. As a consequence, significant conflicts exist between the urban freight operations, pedestrians, private car users and public transport.

In this context, there was the need to find a new solution that helps mitigate or solve the problems identified above. The purpose of the EMEL's demo was to help find solutions by:

1. Testing and identifying technologies for controlling and monitoring cargo activities (loading/unloading) in the urban context.
2. Providing evidence and the grounds for developing the Municipal Regulation on loading and unloading operations.
3. Applying the chosen technology to the rest of the city.

The demonstration tested two technological based schemes:

• Adapted Parking Meters that issue special tickets for 30 minutes of unloading/loading operations when the users expose a contactless card that activates the system;
• Loop Vehicle Detection sensors that will be installed on the ground; these sensors detect the presence of a vehicle in the parking places and send a message to EMEL's control centre, which then gives the operator 30 minutes to finish the operation and leave the parking place.

The demonstration took place in avenue Guerra Junqueiro, chosen due to its great diversity of shops (small and large) and of loading and unloading methods. It started on Dec 5th 2011 and lasted until March 2012. The two technological schemes were applied simultaneously on the same street.

With the implementation of the new scheme, EMEL expected to reach the following results:

• a strong reduction in the number of parking infractions;
• a reduction in the average duration of freight operations;
• an increase in transport operators' satisfaction;
• an increase in shopkeepers' satisfaction;

In order to assess the solutions being tested, the following actions were undertaken in parallel with the demonstration:

• Identification of the cost structure and benefits of both technological schemes;
• Evaluation of the current levels of satisfaction (for shoppers and transport operators);
• Collection of information for assessing and monitoring of the demo.

The following stakeholders have been identified as being affected by the implementation of EMEL's demo:

• EMEL / Municipality, who will be executing the demonstration;
• Transport operators, who will increase their efficiency in loading/unloading operations;
• Chamber of Commerce;
• Shippers and freight receivers (shopkeepers), who will benefit from more reliable deliveries;
• Other road users, who on the one hand will be less affected by freight deliveries, but on the other hand may face more restricted parking regimes.