Method of estimation of car trips induced to pick up parcels from parcel lockers

Jan Paszkowski; Renata Żochowska

doi:10.61089/aot2025.dc8mxg43

Authors

Jan Paszkowski Faculty of Transport, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9377-1466
Renata Żochowska Faculty of Transport and Aviation Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, Katowice, Poland Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8087-3113

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61089/aot2025.dc8mxg43

Keywords:

parcel locker, traffic demand, last mile, parcel pickup

Abstract

For several years, parcel lockers have been rapidly growing in the field of delivery methods as a convenient, time-flexible way of picking up parcels. It reduces the logistics operation in delivery for the individual address by bulk delivering to the locker and individual parcel picking up. Together with saving the mileage of the courier delivery operation, it requires realizing a trip to pick up the parcel. As with every trip, this can be made on foot, by car, or the public transport, depending on the modal split for this particular trip. This article aims to estimate the car traffic induced by trips for picking up the parcel from the locker. It uses the survey data to model customer preferences in parcel delivery, such as desired walking distance, number of parcels picked up, and parcel picking up methods. Then, through the geospatial analysis covering the GZM Metropolis population location and parcel locker location, the number of vehicle kilometres weekly for trips to pick up the parcels is estimated. The research shows a significant difference between urban and rural territories in terms of parcel locker walking accessibility. A significant majority of urban territories' inhabitants are within a walking distance to the locker (according to the desired walking distance researched in the survey), making non-pedestrian trips marginal. However, in the rural areas, a lot of households lie outside of the acceptable walking distance. Finally, vehicle kilometres induced by the parcel delivery were summed up for the area. In spite of being a very small fraction of the total traffic, it still presents an amount of traffic that can be reduced by enhancing parcel locker accessibility.

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