Boston Looks to Start Another Revolution with Boston Delivers
do the same .” he scene of our nation ’ s original revolution is looking for ways to revolutionize deliveries in their city . The city ’ s legendarily narrow streets have become overburdened with delivery vans , food delivery vehicles , parkers and bikers . Mayor Michelle Wu ’ s agenda includes making the city more sustainable and more environmentally friendly .
Enter a pilot project called Boston Delivers . “ Our city is committed to making transportation more sustainable and more environmentally friendly , so it works for everyone ,” says Harper Mills , Program Manager for Boston Delivers . “ Especially downtown , a lot of the deliveries being made , whether it be large parcels , medium parcels , meals or groceries , are resulting in a lot of congestion , a lot of double parking , and subsequent emissions . We need to try to push those deliveries to a different mode .”
The project looked to cities and academic institutions for inspiration . “ Boston Delivers is the result of work that my colleagues did a few years ago that included exploring the new innovations and ideas coming out of New York City and Seattle through the Urban Freight Lab . We wanted to see what Boston could do to incentivize more environmentally friendly deliveries in this city ,” says Mills . “ We want to make final-mile deliveries in our city more sustainable , more ergonomic .” This administration sees innovation in transportation policy and planning as an avenue to make Boston a more sustainable and accessible city .
It was a grant from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center that kicked off the program and helped the project bring on Mills as its full-time program manager . The grant also funded the costs of a delivery partner and subsidies to incentivize local businesses to participate in the program . Boston Delivers then searched for a delivery partner that was tuned into the idea of building a more sustainable delivery model for cities . Net Zero Logistics fit the bill .
Since the summer of 2022 , the program has secured a space for Net Zero ’ s hub of operations . It will house their offices as well as storage and charging stations for the e-bikes they ’ ll be using to deliver for local restaurants and grocery stores in Boston ’ s Allston neighborhood . They plan to launch with six to eight small businesses to test the model .
“ We ’ ve been working with community partners to identify businesses and nonprofits that would be suitable for this pilot ,” said Mills . “ We have a handful of grocery providers and restaurants interested in the program . Over the course of planning the pilot we ’ ve shifted our focus to servicing restaurants that do a high volume of rapid food deliveries . These rapid food deliveries are really a hot button issue in Boston right now . They have created some significant congestion and caused some safety issues .” Boston Delivers will tackle these issues by doing these deliveries by e-bike instead of cars or vans . “ Right now , a pizza is delivered by a several-thousand-pound vehicle . It ’ s taking up a lot of space on our streets and emitting CO2 . We want to have more of these deliveries happen in zero emission vehicles , ideally on two wheels ,” Mills says .
The pilot project is laying the groundwork for an environmentally friendly and more livable future for Boston . “ We ’ re starting in one neighborhood , Allston , where there ’ s a real need to address the congestion from rapid food deliveries . That ’ s why we have that focus there now ,” she said . “ Ultimately we would like to see e-bikes and e-cargo bikes used for all kinds of deliveries including small and medium parcels throughout the city . We will look to where there ’ s interest and participation by local businesses .”
Mills summed up Boston Delivers this way : “ Boston Delivers is a pilot program that will launch and evaluate a delivery service that uses electric cargo bikes to make deliveries from local businesses in the Allston area . It will use the services of Net Zero Logistics to provide more sustainable deliveries to the community .”
Her hope for the program is that it inspires other cities to look for innovative ways to deliver the goods their citizens want in a more environmentally-responsible way . “ I hope that Net Zero and other logistics vendors continue to look for new ways to deliver ; ways that go beyond the internal combustion engine ,” she concludes . “ There is a lot of potential here . I hope to see Net Zero Logistics and others really getting a foothold here by replacing those internal combustion delivery vehicles with cleaner , more environmentally friendly alternatives .” CLDA
spring 2023 I customized logistics & delivery Magazine 19