Royal Mail recently partnered with Ford to trial a new city-friendly approach to parcel delivery in Manchester. The trial helped Royal Mail to increase its foot-based deliveries of larger parcels in urban areas. Read more about it here...
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Trial is over, more to come...
Royal Mail and Ford have partnered to trial a new city-friendly approach to parcel delivery in Manchester. The purpose of the trial was to examine whether multi-modal delivery using Ford’s routing software could help Royal Mail to increase its foot-based deliveries of larger parcels in urban areas.
Ford’s software helped Royal Mail to use fewer vans in the trial area. The software enabled several posties to make deliveries with one vehicle supporting them. It identified safe, convenient locations for the handover of parcels to postmen and postwomen who then made deliveries to a mix of high-rise, business, and residential buildings. During the trial, postmen and postwomen used a smartphone app that provided the location of the van and showed the most efficient routes to deliver the parcels. The process resulted in fast and efficient deliveries, whilst maintaining human interaction at the point of delivery, ensuring trust on the doorstep.
The trial took place in the M4 postcode area of Manchester. This is ahead of Manchester launching its Clean Air Zone next year, with daily van charges coming into effect from 2023.
Using Ford’s software – Mode:Link – and specially built parcel trolleys, the trial helped Royal Mail to reduce the number of parcel vans needed in the city centre each day. Ford’s software enabled postmen and postwomen to meet delivery vans at coordinated points and deliver parcels around the M4 postcode area on foot.
“During the trial, van usage for the delivery routes involved decreased by 50 per cent, whilst daily vehicle mileage decreased by 33 per cent, resulting in a reduction in CO2e emissions per parcel.
More at the link above.