Establishing collection and delivery points to encourage the use of active transport: A case study in New Zealand using a consumer-centric approach

Abstract

The current and projected trends of growth in online shopping might change the activity and travel patterns in Christchurch, one of the largest cities in New Zealand. Online shopping might reduce consumers' shopping trips, but it has substantially increased courier companies' trips to deliver parcels to the end-consumers because a considerable proportion of parcels are often required to be redelivered due to consumers not being at home during the first delivery attempt. This also adds to the operational cost of courier companies and adverse traffic impacts. To mitigate these issues, collection-and-delivery points (CDPs) have recently been introduced in New Zealand on a trial basis. This study aims to identify the optimal density and locations for establishing CDPs in Christchurch using a modified p-median location-allocation (LA) model. A consumer-centric approach to locating CDPs has been adopted by considering the socio-demographic characteristics of Christchurch's residents and the distances to/from CDPs. Non-traditional CDP locations (e.g., supermarkets and dairies) were considered as potential candidate facilities and were found to be more suitable as CDPs than traditional post shops. Based on consumers' shopping pattern, supermarkets appeared to be the most frequently visited and preferred type of facility to be used as CDPs. However, the results of the LA analyses show that dairies are the most accessible locations, and CDPs at dairies located within two kilometres will encourage consumers to walk and cycle to receive their parcels from CDPs. The results suggest the optimal location configuration for each type of facility considered, based on their spatial distribution in the city.