Vienna | RemiHub
Description
Streetcar and Bus Garage for Parcel Transhipment
The RemiHub in Vienna is a prime example of the use of "sleeping assets" for urban logistics purposes. In this case this means the temporary joint use of public transport areas for city logistics. In Vienna, too, space is becoming increasingly scarce due to increasing urbanisation and the steadily rising volume of parcels through e-commerce and other modern trends. City administrations as well as citizens themselves do not want to waste more of the valuable space, especially not for logistics and freight transport. Space within the city is also very expensive, with prices increasing strikingly the closer the location to the city centre. In addition, the delivery vehicles also cause traffic jams, air and noise pollution. The trend is therefore towards alternative delivery vehicles such as cargo bikes and e-vans. However, these vehicles need inner-city transfer points, so-called city hubs. High prices and lack of space are reasons why most logistics areas are currently still located outside of Vienna and therefore too far to do anything with cargo bikes on a larger scale. If you look at the last mile, not much has changed in the last 10 years, most of it is still done with diesel sprinters. This of course is not compatible with city's goals.
The areas of the Vienna Public Transport operator (Wiener Linien) are excellently connected to the transport network and are also usually located in the middle of the city, i.e., close to everyone who orders and returns parcels and packages. Public transport areas like garages, workshops, or even vacant lots that are associated with underground stations therefore offer an interesting opportunity for freight handling in the middle of the city, as they are only full and used at certain times of the day - which is exactly when there are few buses, trams, and trains on the streets.
RemiHub is a research project that was so successful in its first phase that it has now been extended to continue finding completely new transhipment points throughout the city. The project partners are Wiener Linien, a cargo bike operator and two research institutions as well as other participating test companies. Two urban mobility laboratories: Thinkport Vienna and aspern.mobil LAB are also involved and the measure is even mentioned in the governance programme of the city government. A big part of the success of the pilot programme can be attributed to the cleverly generated press attention and media hype, thus being a public relations project in addition to being a research project. The success of the project can also be attributed to the fact that it required minimal and pragmatic specifications and only a low technological involvement and not many prerequisites or physical barriers.
The RemiHub in Vienna is a prime example of the use of "sleeping assets" for urban logistics purposes. In this case this means the temporary joint use of public transport areas for city logistics. In Vienna, too, space is becoming increasingly scarce due to increasing urbanisation and the steadily rising volume of parcels through e-commerce and other modern trends. City administrations as well as citizens themselves do not want to waste more of the valuable space, especially not for logistics and freight transport. Space within the city is also very expensive, with prices increasing strikingly the closer the location to the city centre. In addition, the delivery vehicles also cause traffic jams, air and noise pollution. The trend is therefore towards alternative delivery vehicles such as cargo bikes and e-vans. However, these vehicles need inner-city transfer points, so-called city hubs. High prices and lack of space are reasons why most logistics areas are currently still located outside of Vienna and therefore too far to do anything with cargo bikes on a larger scale. If you look at the last mile, not much has changed in the last 10 years, most of it is still done with diesel sprinters. This of course is not compatible with city's goals.
The areas of the Vienna Public Transport operator (Wiener Linien) are excellently connected to the transport network and are also usually located in the middle of the city, i.e., close to everyone who orders and returns parcels and packages. Public transport areas like garages, workshops, or even vacant lots that are associated with underground stations therefore offer an interesting opportunity for freight handling in the middle of the city, as they are only full and used at certain times of the day - which is exactly when there are few buses, trams, and trains on the streets.
RemiHub is a research project that was so successful in its first phase that it has now been extended to continue finding completely new transhipment points throughout the city. The project partners are Wiener Linien, a cargo bike operator and two research institutions as well as other participating test companies. Two urban mobility laboratories: Thinkport Vienna and aspern.mobil LAB are also involved and the measure is even mentioned in the governance programme of the city government. A big part of the success of the pilot programme can be attributed to the cleverly generated press attention and media hype, thus being a public relations project in addition to being a research project. The success of the project can also be attributed to the fact that it required minimal and pragmatic specifications and only a low technological involvement and not many prerequisites or physical barriers.
Innovation and Relevance
The idea to combine public transport infrastructure and locations with logistics purposes is indeed relevant for all European cities. Pubic transport operators operate their services in most areas of a city and often own infrastructure in valuable inner city areas. Often these assets are not used during all times of the day and can therefore ideally be combined and used for logistics.
Relation to other urban Logistics Projects
The Logistik 2030+ Programme of the city of Vienna currently carries out and large analysis to find out which locations, spaces and areas would be available within the city to be used for logistics purposes.
Since 2021 Vienna has a new innovative city logistics project whose goal is the use of neutral parcel and transhipment boxes. The project was initiated by the Wiener Stadtwerke Group. The organisation unites many companies in the field of logistics, mobility, IT, and communication and also owns a large number of suitably located properties that can be used to expand the network of open transhipment boxes. Other important project partners that form an essential network are the City of Vienna (MA18), Wiener Wohnen, the Chamber of Commerce, Thinkport Vienna next to other relevant companies.
The project aims to establish a new technical and legal framework for parcel logistics in Vienna and to create a visible network of white-label boxes under the name WienBox. The network of boxes is stationed on Public Transport infrastructure. Furthermore, the project wants to establish a Viennese logistics networking platform.
Submitted idea for RemiNet: Follow-up project to use means of transport of the Wiener Linien (underground and tram) for freight transport.
Since 2021 Vienna has a new innovative city logistics project whose goal is the use of neutral parcel and transhipment boxes. The project was initiated by the Wiener Stadtwerke Group. The organisation unites many companies in the field of logistics, mobility, IT, and communication and also owns a large number of suitably located properties that can be used to expand the network of open transhipment boxes. Other important project partners that form an essential network are the City of Vienna (MA18), Wiener Wohnen, the Chamber of Commerce, Thinkport Vienna next to other relevant companies.
The project aims to establish a new technical and legal framework for parcel logistics in Vienna and to create a visible network of white-label boxes under the name WienBox. The network of boxes is stationed on Public Transport infrastructure. Furthermore, the project wants to establish a Viennese logistics networking platform.
Submitted idea for RemiNet: Follow-up project to use means of transport of the Wiener Linien (underground and tram) for freight transport.
Plans for Future Development
Ideally the project developers and managers of the pilot project would like establish – as the maximum level - between 30-40 RemiHubs in Vienna, where 3-4000 people could travel by bike, to serve 80% of the area of Vienna REALLY CO2-neutral on the last mile. But this is currently still in the idea and not even in the planning phase.
Data, Customers and Goods
Last mile logistics is often correlated with low paid jobs and such a programme could help to raise awareness about bad working conditions and ethical problems. Apart from the obvious SDGs like 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), 9 (Innovation and Infrastructure), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and 13 (Climate Action) also SDGs 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 1 (No Poverty) and 3 (Good Health and Well-being) are relevant.
Impressions
Fotocredits: © RemiHub, Google 2021