gtha urban freight action plan status update - metrolinx

Inside: • Initiatives on the GTHA Urban Freight Action Plan • Updates from GTHA Urban Freight Forum Members • Key Contact Information • Major Research Studies

GTHA Urban Freight Action Plan

Status Update 2012

Tracking Initiatives on Urban Freight Across the GTHA

The following pages highlight key initiatives and major research aimed at improving the efficiency of moving goods in the GTHA. At its February 18, 2011 meeting, the Metrolinx

Board approved the GTHA Urban Freight Study. The findings of the Study highlight five strategic directions and 17 actions that together provide a strong basis for

addressing the urban freight challenges in the GTHA.

Thank you to all stakeholders for providing contributions to this Status Update to highlight your own relevant initiatives and form the basis of our status update. It should be noted

that this is not a comprehensive report of all GTHA initiatives, but a collection of initiatives stakeholders have made us aware of that starts to track progress of the GTHA Urban Freight

Action Plan.

We hope this resource can be shared widely to encourage closer collaboration across the GTHA on this essential agenda.

Welcome to the GTHA Urban Freight Action Plan

Status Update

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Action 6: Develop and protect a strategic GTHA truck networkAction 7: Harmonize truck route standards and mappingAction 8: Investigate intelligent lane utilization and truck-only lanesAction 9: Explore opportunities to move freight on transit

INCREASE TRANSPORTATION NETWORK EFFICIENCY3Action 4: Improve data sharing on freight vehicles, routes and activitiesAction 5: Establish a GTHA urban freight data collection program

IMPROVE FREIGHT INFORMATION 2

Action 1: Strengthen and collaborate with multi-sectoral forums Action 2: Establish an inter-governmental freight committee Action 3: Improve and coordinate public outreach on urban freight

BUILD COLLABORATION & SUPPORT Strategic Direction

Strategic Direction

Strategic Direction

Strategic Direction

Strategic Direction

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Action 10: Develop freight supportive land-use guidelines Action 11: Support development of innovative freight hubsAction 12: Improve access to existing intermodal facilities Action 13: Plan and protect complementary land uses near major freight hubs

ENHANCE PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT4Action 14: Use technology to optimise and manage the movement of goodsAction 15: Explore opportunities for flexible freight delivery timesAction 16: Enhance incentives to encourage off-peak deliveries Action 17: Implement reserved curbside delivery options

IMPROVE OPERATIONAL PRACTICES5

GTHA URBAN FREIGHT STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS

The Regional Transportation Plan, The Big Move, 2008, identified Big Move # 8: A comprehensive strategy for goods movement.

In 2011, The GTHA Urban Freight Study was developed in conjunction with stakeholders, and concluded with a GTHA

Urban Freight Action Plan to improve the efficiency of moving goods in the GTHA, increase capacity, enhance the region’s competitiveness and reduce emissions of GHG’s and other

pollutants. This Action Plan now forms the basis of Metrolinx’s ongoing work on this agenda.

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Building Collaboration & Support

Key Forum: GTHA Urban Freight ForumApril 11, 2012 marked the first meeting of the GTHA Urban Freight Forum, established by Metrolinx to support delivery of the Urban Freight Action Plan. The Forum includes public and private goods movement stakeholders and is brought together two times a year with the aim of exchanging information, generating action, inspiring innovation, and reviewing delivery of the Action Plan. A sub-committee of government staff; the Inter-government Sub-committee (IGSC) meets in-between Forum meetings to progress actions. Summaries of Forum meetings are available on our website or from [email protected]. Members of the Urban Freight Forum have their own forums of stake-holders and their own strategic action plans, but all converge on the GTHA Urban Freight agenda at these meetings.

MTO Multimodal Goods Movement Strategy

GTHA Urban Freight Forum Members

Key Action Plan: MTO Multimodal Goods Movement StrategyIn July 2012, the Ministry of Transportation released Building Competi-tiveness: A Proposed Multimodal Goods Movement Strategy for Ontario for public consultation. Ontario’s proposed multimodal goods move-ment strategy will support the government’s Jobs and the Economy agenda by recognizing the critical role that goods movement plays in the competitiveness of modern business, and improving businesses’ ability to efficiently get their goods to market. The Ministry of Transportation intends to release a final strategy and 3-year action plan in late 2012 or early 2013.

Key contact: [email protected]

FORUMS AND ACTION PLANS

Region of Peel Goods Movement Task ForcePeel’s Goods Movement Task Force, a collaboration of key private and public sector stakeholders, was formed in 2009 to facilitate better plan-ning and implementation of goods movement infrastructure and ser-vices. In April 2012, Peel Regional Council adopted the Peel Region Goods Movement Strategic Plan, which outlines 23 action items, which will be initiated over the next five years. These action items correspond to four strategic directions: Infrastructure Improvements; Partnership, Communication and Advocacy; Optimization of Existing Infrastructure; Planning and Forecasting Future Needs.

Key contact: [email protected]: www.peelregion.ca/pw/roads/goodsmovement

Southern Ontario Gateway Council (SOGC)The SOGC is a transportation and economic development forum for Southern Ontario, of 800 industry and student members, with the goal of “achieving excellence in an integrated transportation system for the prosperity of Southern Ontario.” The SOGC is committed to organizing forums and seminars to educate the public and increase collaboration between the public sector and industry. The SOGC is currently develop-ing a new action plan and policy papers, focusing on tackling congestion and raising the profile of goods movement.

Key contact: John Best, [email protected]: 216.104.46.66/~gateway/

Strategic Direction

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COMMUNICATION INITIATIVES

Peel Task Force Sub Committee on Communications A sub-committee of the Peel Goods Movement Task Force meets quarterly to examine freight data needs, and ways in which the public sector can coordinate and collaborate on data collection efforts, among other issues related to data sharing.


OTA Road KnightsThe OTA has recently produced road safety videos to inform the public about sharing the road with trucks. The videos feature the expertise of the OTA Road Knights Team, a group of Ontario professional truck driver ‘ambassadors’ for the trucking community, who travel across the province to speak to community groups, safety organizations, schools, etc. about how to safely share the road with trucks, the importance of the trucking industry, professionalism of truck drivers and careers in the industry.

Toronto Board of Trade: Toronto as a Global City: Scorecard on Prosperity 2012 A recent report published by the Toronto Board of Trade analyzed several variables and measures in order to assess the livability and economic strength of the Toronto Region, and benchmark it against 23 other global metropolitan areas. The report shows that Toronto is experiencing some challenges in some areas, particularly in terms of productivity and GDP growth, while also scoring poorly on commuter travel times and travel to work mode (poor transit usage).

Key contact: Juan Gomez [email protected]

KEY ASSOCIATIONS

Ontario Trucking Association (OTA)Founded in 1926, the OTA is the voice of trucking companies hauling freight into, out of, and within the Province of Ontario. In fact, the OTA is the only trucking association in Ontario that represents all segments of the trucking industry: for-hire carrier, private carriers, intermodal, sup-pliers, etc. Some areas that the OTA specializes in include government relations and public policy advocacy, carrier operations, safety, security, carrier education, compliance, and communications.


TransHub OntarioThe goal of TransHub Ontario is to promote the Hamilton-Burlington-Niagara region and southern Ontario as a hub for efficient goods move-ment. Primarily, TransHub is a non-for-profit economic development corporation that aims to attract businesses that rely on, or provide, transportation and logistics.

Contact: [email protected]

Canadian Courier & Logistics Association (CCLA)The CCLA is a non-profit Trade Association that represents and ad-vances the interest of couriers and time sensitive logistics service pro-viders operating in Canada.

Key contact: David Turnbull [email protected]

Canadian Union of Postal WorkersThis trade union is composed of 54,000 members, mainly represent-ing postal workers employed at Canada Post. In addition to postal workers, the union also represents cleaners, couriers, drivers, vehicle mechanics, warehouse workers, bicycle couriers, and other workers in more than 15 private sector bargaining units.

Key contact: Mark Hayward [email protected]

Transportation Association of Canada (TAC): Two-three day event that features technical, social, professional, and network-ing events on wide variety of transportation topics.

Website: www.tac-atc.ca

TRANSLOG: Two-day event involving the exchange of ideals relating to the theoretical and applied research in goods movement.

Website: mitl.mcmaster.ca/translog/index.html

ANNUAL CONFERENCESCanadian Transportation Research Forum (CTRF): Presents transportation research from industry, government, and academic perspectives. All presented papers are published in a Proceedings book for CTRF members and other industry parties. The 48th Annual CTRF Confer-ence will be held June 10-12, 2013 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Website: www.ctrf.ca/

86th Annual Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) Convention: The OTA Convention consists of leadership seminars, speakers, and an in-dustry exhibition.

Website: www.ontruck.org/convention/

Transport Canada: GIS DatabaseTransport Canada’s GIS Database is an ongoing, multi-year development project with the goal of creating an accurate, dynamic and complete GIS dataset, representing Canada’s transportation system and trade flows.

Metrolinx: Estimating Urban Commercial Vehicle Movements in the GTHAThis project was completed for Metrolinx by MITL. In this work, available data sources were integrated with a computationally intensive simulation framework to estimate, on an hourly basis, the flows of light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles between over 2000 zones in the GTHA.

Toronto Board of Trade: Toronto as a Global City: Scorecard on Prosperity 2012Toronto as a Global City: Scorecard On Prosperity 2012, a report published the Toronto Board of Trade, measures the liveability and economic strength of the Toronto Region, and benchmarks it against 23 global metropolitan areas. While Toronto is still a great place to live and work, it appears that it is losing ground to many U.S. and Canadian cities in terms of productivity and GDP growth. Additionally, Toronto continues to score poorly on commuter times and travel to work mode (poor transit usage).

Opportunities Data SharingThe challenges of disseminating urban freight data and the potential platforms (such as the MTO’s iCorridor and the University of Toronto’s Data Management Group’s Internal Data Retrieval System) for distributing this data are common issues that have arisen among our private and public sector stakeholders. A sub-committee of the Peel Goods Movement Task Force meets quarterly to examine freight data needs, and ways in which the public sector can coordinate and collaborate on data collection efforts, among other issues related to data sharing. Once a strategy is determined for sharing and collaborating public sector data, perhaps there is an opportunity to consider.

OVERALLToronto Rank: 5

Toronto's overall ranking has climbed from 8th to 5th in the

report's comparison of 24 urban centres.

ECONOMYToronto Rank: 11

Toronto remains stuck in the middle of the pack when it comes

to the Economy ranking.

LABOURATTRACTIVENESS

Toronto Rank: 5Toronto takes a small dip from

4th to 5th in Labour Attractiveness.

NORTH AMERICANECONOMY

Toronto Rank: 9Toronto is losing ground in comparison to other North

American clusters.

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Improving Freight Information

Metrolinx: GTHA Goods Movement Data Collection Framework Metrolinx has sponsored the University of Toronto to develop a coordi-nated GTHA Urban Goods Movement data collection and data manage-ment framework to support modelling, analysis and benchmarking with the ultimate purpose of informing public policy and measuring perfor-mance in the GTHA. Presentations about data collection to date, and discussions about the dissemination of this data and development on an on-going framework will be discussed at Freight Day, sponsored by Metrolinx and the University of Toronto, November 1st, 2012.

This work builds on the ‘Estimating Urban Commercial Vehicle Move-ments in the GTHA’ completed for Metrolinx by MITL. Available data sources were integrated with an intensive simulation framework to estimate, on an hourly basis, the flows of light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles between over 2000 zones in the GTHA.

Key contact: Mathew Roodra, [email protected]

MTO: Commercial Vehicle Survey (CVS)The MTO Commercial Vehicle Survey (CVS) pro-vides a time series measure of travel at strategic points on the Ontario road system every 5 years and is shifting to a continuous data collection program to respond to data needs in support of corridor and area studies. Surveys are conducted on a 24 hour basis, 7 days a week, at more than 150 sites, primarily but not limited to, truck inspection stations and international border crossings, plus a variety of municipal roads. The CVS captures trucking characteristics related to: address level trip origin-destination with intermediate pick-up/drop off points, carrier details, vehicle clas-sification, vehicle weights and dimensions, and commodity descrip-tion. The CVS also provides a cordon of border crossing activity with a measure of daily trips, commodity tonnage and cargo value. Data collection for the Fall 2011- Fall 2013 is underway, with reports based on processed and expanded commercial vehicle intercept survey data available in December 2014. MTO has a limited window to receive proposals from any municipality to supplement CVS with data collection at mutual locations of municipal interest with a 60/40 provincial funding formula. MTO is exploring new partnerships using the adaptation of in-novative GPS technologies to capture annual vehicle tours in an effort to incrementally reduce the scale of the current CVS.


Transport Canada: Canadian Vehicle Use Study (CVUS)The aim of the CVUS is to produce activity estimates (vehicle-km of travel, passenger-km, litres of fuel consumed, trip-making, etc.) for the Canadian motor vehicle fleet. The study’s scope includes cars and light trucks (gross weight less than 4,500 kg) and medium and heavy trucks (gross weight of 4,500 kg or more). Data collection uses in-novative electronic data loggers, which plug in to all 1996 and newer

vehicles via the Onboard Diagnostics port (OBD-II). As engine performance and GPS coordinates are recorded at one

second intervals, the quantity and quality of the data collected is superior to paper methods. Field trials

for heavy vehicles are currently underway and full rollout nationally will commence in January

2013. The provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba have also joined the CVUS project

to complement the vehicle samples for Ontario and Quebec.


Transport Canada: GIS DatabaseTransport Canada’s GIS Database is an ongoing, multi-year develop-ment project with the goal of creating an accurate, dynamic and com-plete GIS dataset, representing Canada’s transportation system and trade flows.


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MODE AGENCY SURVEY DETAILS

Transport Canada National Roadside Survey

Most recent data collected in 2005-2007

MTO Commercial Vehicle Survey

Most recent data collected in 2011-2012; Conducted every 5-6 years

Managed by Statistics Canada, sponsored by Transport Canada

Trucking Commodity Origin and Destination Survey (TCOD) Most recent data collected in 2008

Data Management Group at the University of Toronto

Cordon Count Data Retrieval System Most recent data collected in 2011

Statistics Canada “Rail in Canada” Reports

Conducted Annually RAILINC (an arm of the Association of

American Railroads) Individual railway data

Statistics Canada “Shipping in Canada” Reports

Conducted Annually

Airport Authorities; Transport Canada Detailed data from individual airport authorities; Transport Canada

Annual Reports (contain data on all modes, including air)

Peel Task Force Sub-Committee on Data Sharing Peel’s Data Sharing sub-committee meets quarterly to examine freight data needs and ways in which the public sector can coordinate and collaborate on data collection efforts, and share and disseminate data with wider stakeholders. Once a strategy is determined for sharing and collaborating public sector data, there could be an opportunity to consider wider membership of this group. Key contact:

Peel Task Force Sub-Committee on Data Sharing Peel’s Data Sharing sub-committee meets quarterly to examine freight data needs and ways in which the public sector can coordinate and collaborate on data collection efforts, and share and disseminate data with wider stakeholders. Once a strategy is determined for sharing and collaborating public sector data, there could be an opportunity to con-sider wider membership of this group.


Long-Term Provincial Multimodal Infra-structure Capacity Forecast / Shipper Mode of Choice Survey The Ministry of Transportation will soon be issuing an RFP to im-prove the Ministry’s understanding of North American best practices for multimodal freight forecasts. This work will inform the Ministry’s long term interest in developing a multimodal freight model with a forecasting capacity to support its understanding of freight demand and traffic patterns across all modes of transportation.

Key Contact: [email protected]

ONGOING SOURCES OF FREIGHT DATA

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Increasing Transportation Network Efficiency

Innovative Lane Management Techniques: Truck Lanes in Urban AreasThe Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) is currently finalizing a study that will produce a resource document to allow professionals to make more informed decisions regarding urban truck lanes in Canada, with the focus being on trucks that are delivering or picking-up goods in a urban areas. As part of this project, a technical report and six Cana-dian case studies are included, along with the resource document which highlights over 60 considerations for truck lanes. The report is expected to be completed by early 2013 and will be made available for purchase on the TAC web page: www.tac-atc.ca


MTO: Southern Highways Program 2011-2015The Southern Highways Program was first established in 2006 in conjunction with ReNew Ontario, a $30 billion investment strategy to strengthen Ontario’s economy and communities. Since then, it has been a regularly published five-year investment plan in highway improvement for Southern Ontario. For 2011, planned accomplishments included: 126 km of new highways; 9 new bridges; 451 km of rehabilitated highways; and 71 rehabilitated bridges. In 2012/13, the Ontario gov-ernment is planning to invest $2.4 billion to repair and expand pro-vincially owned highways and bridges across the province. Ontario’s planned investments of more than $35 billion over the next three years will create or preserve over 100,000 jobs on average each year. For more information on the Southern Highways Program 2010-2014 see: www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/pubs/highway-construction/southern-highway-2010/southern-highways-2010.pdf

OTA: Local Truck Routes - A Guide for Municipal OfficialsThis publication by the Ontario Trucking Association provides guidance for municipalities when planning for truck traffic. Local truck routes have the potential to create an efficient transportation network of intercon-necting streets, thereby enabling truck operators to effectively ship their goods to the consumer. The guide discusses the importance of planning a truck route and the process that municipalities should undertake in order to designate a truck route. The guide also discusses the various methods that can be used to communicate the plan and solicit feed-back from stakeholders. The full publication is available online.

Agencies interested in learning more about this work can email [email protected]

Online: http://www.ontruck.org/iMISpublic/Content/ContentFold-ers/OTA/Infrastructure/2011/111201_OTA_Guide_FINAL_one-

Sided.pdf

Region of Peel Strategic Goods Movement Network StudyHaving one of the highest densities of industrial square footage in North America, the Region of Peel is a significant freight hub in the GTHA and sees high volumes of truck traffic on its roadways and heavy rail usage in the area. To ensure that goods are able to move as efficiently as possible through the Region, the Strategic Goods Movement Network Study will identify, protect and preserve priority routes for goods move-ment through the Region. The Study is expected to be complete by early 2013 and is one of the key studies that Metrolinx will reference when developing the GTHA Strategic Goods Movement Network.


Developing a GTHA Strategic Goods Movement NetworkMetrolinx is developing a scope of work for a GTHA Strategic Goods Movement Network (SGMN). A SGMN, alongside the transit network, will provide Metrolinx with a comprehensive picture of the multi-modal transportation network in the GTHA, providing a baseline and framework for on-going planning and policy priorities for transportation, land use and economic development.

Key contact: [email protected] investment through the Southern Highways Program


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Sustainable Convenience: Freight at TransitIn August, 2012, the first BufferBox was installed at Union Station, the first of up to 60 self-serve mail ki-osks to be installed at GO Stations over the next two years. Customers can choose to have packages de-livered to the BufferBox instead of their home address allowing for 24/7 pickup, removing the possibility of missed or stolen deliveries and eliminating vehicle trips by both deliverymen and recipients.

For more information:bufferbox.comAnthony Caruso, [email protected]

Research in Action: Freight on TransitUsing excess public transit capacity to move freight has the potential to reduce the impact of urban goods movement and generate revenue for public transit agencies. Many operations exist worldwide, including in the GTHA where courier companies A Way Express and Good Foot Delivery provide zero emissions package delivery in downtown Toronto by providing couriers with a transit pass rather than a car.

This research project began at University of Toronto where a web-based “Delphi Approach” was used to obtain expert assessments of the benefits, challenges and opportunities of Freight on Transit. Potential applications in the Greater Toronto Area have since been investigated in a research project sponsored by Metrolinx’s Rob MacIsaac Innovation Fellowship (this research report forthcoming by the end of 2012).

Key contacts: Matthew Roorda, [email protected]; Anthony Caruso, [email protected]

Designing Roads for the Future: Region of Peel Regional Road Characterization StudyRealizing that there are competing demands (such as cars, trucks, bi-cycles, transit, pedestrians, etc.) for limited Rights-of-Way on roads, the Region of Peel launched the Road Characterization Study in early 2012. The purpose of the study is to produce planning and engineering guide-lines to ensure that the Regional roads can sustain long-term growth and support adjacent existing and future land uses. This Study will bring together stakeholders to focus on developing solutions to balance com-peting roadway demands and improve connectivity between land uses.


Truck Congestion in Major Urban AreasThis in-house study by Transport Canada investigates the locations where trucks must consistently contend with serious urban congestion in major Canadian cities (Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax). Informal consultations with relevant stakehold-ers and on-going research on urban freight movement will continue to improve our understanding of this issue.

Key Contacts: [email protected] [email protected]

RoundaboutsRoundabouts are seen as a more efficient means of moving traffic and as a way of increasing overall safety. The OTA has been examining round-about designs that would accommodate the various truck configurations on Ontario roadways. As such, OTA has produced a discussion paper that will be distributed to various organizations such as MTO, Ontario Good Roads Association and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

Agencies interested in obtaining a copy of this work can email [email protected]

Roundabouts built to accomodate new industry trends

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size and cargo handled and aims to the Great Lakes port of choice. The HPA is always looking for ways to improve the efficiency of the supply chain for its tenants, increasing the efficiency of marine access to relieve road and rail capacity. To give an example of this work: HPA invested in a strategically located new property to consolidate Lafarge Hamilton’s two opera-tions, allowing them to streamline transportation of materials and cut costs, while lessen its footprint on the environment and local infrastructure. By moving next door to its main Canadian supplier of blast furnace slag, and securing direct marine and rail service access, the Company is able to eliminate up to 15,000 annual truck trips from local roads.

Key contact: Bill Fitzgerald, [email protected]

CONSOLIDATION

Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF) Health Consolidation Centre Feasibility StudyTAF has a grant from Metrolinx and the MTO to examine the potential for freight consolidation in downtown Toronto’s busy University Health Network, including Mount Sinai Hospital, SickKids Hospital, Toronto Re-habilitation Centre, and the Princess Margaret Hospital. Consolidation of goods has the potential to reduce the number of trucks in a given area, thereby reducing congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. The Study reviews delivery patterns and current practices and identify opportunities to improve efficiencies. This project is expected to be complete by Fall 2012.

TAF is interested in exploring additional innovations in the goods move-ment sector that have the potential to mitigate congestion on city streets and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. From cargo bikes to electric vehicles to off-peak delivery, TAF wants to learn more about the business and environmental case for last mile deliveries.

Key contact: Ben Marans, [email protected]

Enhancing Planning & Development

MTO: Freight Supportive Land Use GuidelinesThe Ministry of Transportation is developing Freight-Supportive Guide-lines to provide tools to support the efficient movement of goods through effective land use planning, site design and municipal operations. The Guidelines include best practices, examples, implementation tools, and overall direction for long-term, local implementation of freight-supportive policies. The Ministry intends to continue working with stakeholders and to publicly consult on the draft Guidelines in Fall 2012.


MTO: Long Combination Vehicles ProgramFrom August 2009- November 2010, the Ontario Government pro-vided 40 carriers with two permits to allow the use of Long Combination Vehicles (LCVs), a truck configuration where two full-length semi-trailers are pulled by one tractor, within the Province. In Spring 2011, the Minis-try of Transportation expanded this pilot, doubling the number of carriers from 40 to 80. MTO is currently working toward a longer-term plan for

LCV operations on Ontario roadways. MTO is looking at a 5 year plan for further development of the Program, which could include further expan-sion of the roadway network in addition to the number of participants. LCVs have the ability to transport light, bulky freight efficiently, thereby improving the productivity of industries and local businesses. They also contribute to a significant reduction in fuel consumption and related greenhouse gas emissions.


Improving Access to Intermodal Facilities: Hamilton Port Authority (HPA)The port’s strategic location and multimodal capability including marine, truck and rail, provide a sustainable system of moving a variety of com-modities in the dry, liquid bulk and project cargo sectors. The Port of Hamilton is the largest Canadian port on the Great Lakes in terms of both

Hierarchy of configuration lengths

The concept of Consolidation Centres


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MTO: Freight Villages and Freight Generators In 2011, the Ministry of Transportation partnered the McMaster Institute for Transportation and Logistics (MITL) on initial exploratory research on the freight villages concept. “An Exploration of the Freight Village Concept and its Applicability to Ontario” provides a summary of the international experience with freight villages, different models for their development, and an initial exploration of the applicability of the concept in Ontario. The study pointed to the critical importance of private sector interest as a driving factor in successful freight villages. The full study is available on MITL’s website at: http://mitl.mcmaster.ca/research/docu-ments/MITL_Freight_Villages_January.pdf

In addition, the Ministry of Transportation is currently working with MITL to improve its understanding of the location and scale of regionally sig-nificant goods movement generators in Southern Ontario. The study will complement an earlier study done with the federal government in 2009 on the largest freight generating nodes in the province. The study is intended to assist with regional goods movement planning and policy initiatives, and to develop a better understanding of the connections in the logistics systems within the province. The study is in early stages and is expected to be finalized by fall 2013.

Key contact: Dr. Pavlos [email protected]

Metrolinx’s Own Consolidation Centre: Transit Inventory Management System (TIMS)TIMS is the first initiative involving the consolidation of parts procurement for multiple transit systems through a single supplier in North America. Working with Metrolinx, seven Ontario municipalities plus GO Transit, implemented TIMS in 2012. This Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) model reduces administration costs, uses economies of scale to save participating municipalities money, increases efficiency, and reduces the supply chain’s carbon footprint. Furthermore, short term costs associ-ated with carrying inventory are transferred over to the supplier, reduc-ing the risk of inventory obsolescence. As well, by consolidating the purchasing power of multiple transit systems, TIMS has allowed smaller municipalities to enjoy the power and price incentives only afforded to larger municipalities.


TransHub Catalysing Freight Clusters TransHub, formed Spring 2011 promotes the assets of Hamilton-Niag-ara and southern Ontario as a hub for the movement of goods, aiming to coordinate transportation and logistics sectors in this region to ensure that infrastructure development and job creation is environmentally and economically sustainable. By encouraging and supporting business to settle in this region this member based not for profit corporation cata-lyzes the idea of freight clusters and facilitates supply chain collaboration amongst its members.

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Improving Operational Practices

The Courier Industry: An Efficient MachineIndividual courier companies are often some of the most efficient busi-nesses, generating a myriad of creative solutions to improve deliveries and make more use of efficient technologies to organize the delivery process to eliminate waste in a hub and spoke inter-modal system. These businesses often use the latest GPS systems and refer to forms of lower emission vehicles wherever possible, for example using the PATH or bicycle delivery for downtown Toronto deliveries. They also have their own membership organizations to coordinate their voices and make business yet more efficient (see ‘Associations’ pages 5)

Delivery Route Optimization: An LCBO Case StudyExploratory work was carried out for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) by MITL to determine if there was potential for LCBO stores and The Beer Store (TBS) locations to be served more efficiently from the four LCBO warehouses in Ontario. Results showed significant potential to develop more efficient routes, by reducing the number of routes and increasing truck capacity. A reduction in routes would reduce distance travelled and emissions as well as travel time. The results took traffic congestion patterns into account and detailed reports were developed to show step-by-step composition and timing of each route. The analysis was done on the basis of a “typical” two week cycle. For peak periods of the year alternative routing schemes would be required to accom-modate extra volumes.

Contact: Dr. Pavlos Kanaroglou, [email protected]

Off-Peak Delivery in Toronto and New York City In partnership with Nestlé Canada, University of Waterloo graduate stu-dents undertook a study in 2012 to demonstrate the feasibility and framework needed for the implementation of night-time deliveries while avoiding negative impacts on capacity, service times, and cost. The study also considered political, regulatory, and conceptual obstacles, as well as the potential benefits to industry, the public, and government stakeholders.

Similarly, a paper on out of peak delivery in New York summarizes find-ings from research into policies to foster off hour deliveries in the New York City Metropolitan area and the estimated impacts of such a pro-gram. The paper is available at: amonline.trb.org/12jqvd/2

TransCore Link Logistics Canada The largest transportation technology provider for the Canadian truck-ing and freight brokerage industry. Their load and equipment matching service, Loadlink, is the largest source of information for available loads and trucks throughout North America and the preferred choice of the best transportation companies in Canada to keep their trucks loaded and shipments moving. Close to 5,000 transportation companies and over 20,000 users throughout Canada access Loadlink every day to find available freight and to find carriers to move their loads. This freight matching service enables subscribers to post availability and make matches with other subscribers to reduce their empty loads.

Key contact: [email protected] Similarly, the Empty Miles Program matches a company’s trucks and trailers on the return leg of their journey with cargo that can be retrieved or delivered along the return route. In tandem with removing empty transport vehicles from the road, Empty Miles has been shown to curb greenhouse gas emissions, decrease fuel consumption, increase user productivity and save money. The program was launched in Canada in February 2010. It has been in place in the U.S. since 2009. As a result of using the service, leading American retailer Macy’s realized an increase of 30 backhaul loads per week, or a projected 1,500 loads per year, and a reduction in annualized transportation costs by an average of $25,000.

Online: http://www.emptymiles.org


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REDUCING FUEL CONSUMPTION AND EMISSIONS

Natural Resources Canada FleetSmart and Smart Driver ProgramFleetSmart is a program by Natural Resources Canada that offers fleet companies advice and training on how they can reduce their operating costs, improve overall productivity, and increase competitiveness. The driver education component of FleetSmart is called Smart Driver, which has programs for trucks and buses to advise drivers about how to save fuel to reduce their environmental footprint.

Contact Fleet Smart, Office of Energy Efficiency: (613) 960-7427

Peel Region: Freight Transportation Demand Management Study (FTDM)Peel Region is currently finalizing a report that examines strategies to blend demand management and sustainable transportation practices in the goods movement area. The study provides best practices ex-amples, input from good movement businesses and government, along with core recommendations for implementing various FTDM measures. Some of these measures have already been included in Peel Region’s Goods Movement Task Force Strategic Plan.

Key contact: Eric Chan, [email protected]

Estimating Human Exposure to Commercial Vehicle EmissionsThis University of Toronto study, sponsored by the Toronto Atmospheric Fund and the MTO, developed an integrated model of vehicle emissions, their dispersion through the atmosphere, and population exposure at times of peak emissions in the Toronto Waterfront Area. Pollutant con-centrations are higher along the Gardiner Expressway; however, popula-tion exposure to these pollutants is highest in the central business district due to the higher population density. NOx and HC reduction of 12% and 4% result when medium duty diesel trucks are converted to ultra-low emission vehicles.

Key contact: Matthew Roorda, [email protected]

Partners in Project Green Partners in Project Green is a group of businesses working together to green their bottom line by creating an “eco-business zone” around To-ronto Pearson International Airport. Programming has been developed to help businesses reduce energy, uncover new business opportuni-ties, and address operational challenges using green and cost-effective methods. The Pearson Eco-Business Zone consists of over 12,000 hectares of industrial and commercial land and is Canada’s largest em-ployment area, home to 12,500 businesses and over 355,000 em-ployees. Annually, these businesses consume about 5.8 million MWh of electricity, 46 million GJ of natural gas, and release 1.7 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. Because of this, there is a real opportunity to influ-ence the employers in this area to adopt sustainable business practices. Some programs available to local businesses are listed below.

• Eco-Efficiency: Free assessment of facility to identify energy, waste, and water reduction opportunities

• Green Purchasing Blocks: Purchase green technologies at reduced prices by bringing businesses together

• By-Produce Exchange: Networks for firms to trade resources and waste-byproducts

For more information visit: www.partnersinprojectgreen.com

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

ITS Canada Research and Development InitiativesTechnology is coming to the forefront as a way of effectively manag-ing traffic, increasing road safety, and making travel more efficient. Al-though much of the ITS work done over the past 20 years has focused on Research and Development, ITS Canada has remained actively in-volved in the mainstream deployment of ITS applications.

Contact: [email protected]

Emerging TechnologiesTransport Canada Smart CorridorTransport Canada is engaged in developing a transportation technology plan for the Ontario-Quebec corridor. Key tasks to be carried out include stakeholder consultations to determine user needs; creation of an inventory of existing and proposed ITS systems in the corridors; identification of stakeholder roles and responsibilities and relevant standards to support organizational cooperation; and a final report on findings, including recommendations.

ITS Canada Research and Development InitiativesTechnology is coming to the forefront as a way of effectively managing traffic, increasing road safety, and making travel more efficient. Although much of the ITS work done over the past 20 years has focused on R&D, ITS Canada has remained actively involved in the mainstream deployment of ITS applications. Some innovative technologies that have been examined by ITS Canada are presented below. Contact [email protected] for more info.

•Signals broadcast upcoming signal phases and timing and road conditions•Each vehicle broadcasts location, heading, speed and more every 1/10 sec•Each vehicle receives messages from other vehicles and infrastructure

Connected Vehicles

• In vehicle device advises driver on shortest time to destination, taking into account construction, accidents, emergencies, etc.•Dynamically balances traffic across network

Dynamic Route Advisory

•Advise drivers ahead of signal phases to allow for speed adjusment and reduced idling

Traffic Signaling: Eco-driving

Image Credits: Page 4: Header - Jonas K.; Map- MTOPage 6: header: Sheraz Khan Page 7: Ann McdonaldPage 8 header: Antonio Atalaya; construction: Di BedardPage 9: roundabout: Washington State DOT; tram: wiki commons Page 10: header: Jess FisczyPage 11: Containers: Dick Loek/Toronto Star; Airport: Benny LinPage 12: header: flickr user Brewbook; LCBO: Ontario Reality AssociationPage 13: George SockaAbove image: Google Earth

Contact Us: Metrolinx97 Front Street WestToronto, ON M5J 2W3Main Switchboard: 416. 874. 5900.

Urban Freight Contact:

Anthony [email protected]. 202.5967

November 2012

If you wish to be profiled in a future edtion, please submit a summary of your organization, the work you are doing, and how it advances the objective of the GTHA Urban Freight Action Plan.

Please send submissions to: Anthony Caruso, [email protected]

gtha urban freight action plan status update - metrolinx

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