Freight Transport in London: Current Issues and Future Developments


Speaker


Abstract

Freight movement is an increasingly important topic in all cities and London is no exception. Freight flows form a significant part of all traffic flows and although they are undeniably essential to the functioning of the city they also result in several well-established problems. The seminar will concentrate of four topics. First, it is important to summarise the key aspects of freight movements in London (e.g. vehicle numbers, key areas of activity, sector specific developments) and will highlight the difficulties associated with using existing data sources when trying to build up a picture of urban freight movements in a large and complex city. Secondly, there will be a review of the policy context for freight developments in London. This is of particular interest because of changes in the past few years - for example - the creation of the post of Mayor of London and a new interest in freight from Transport for London has resulted in the publication the first London-wide freight plan. This document sets the policy context for the next few years. Thirdly, the seminar will note two policy developments that seek to reduce congestion and pollution: namely the London Congestion Charge (introduced February 2003) and the London Low Emission Zone (introduced February 2008). Finally, the opportunities for further changes in urban freight in London will be discussed.
 
Contact information:
Prof.dr. M.B.M. de Koster
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