In recent years, there has been a significant surge in interest directed toward exploring integrated transportation systems encompassing both people and freight. We characterize an integrated system for transporting both people and goods as one in which the means of transporting these entities are collaboratively employed. This results in the conveyance of people and goods within a singular vehicle, whether privately or publicly operated. Additionally, this system could involve the shared usage of infrastructure elements like railways, stations, and platforms (see the excellent recent review paper by Rong Cheng and her co-authors at DTU Denmark).
This captivating trend has sparked a growing body of research in the field. Notably, as early as 2010, a substantial initiative was launched in the form of the Dinalog project known as “Cargo Hitching” (see here). The convergence of passenger and freight movements presents compelling prospects for profitable endeavors. This arises from the potential to address identical transportation requirements using fewer vehicles and drivers. This convergence promises to sustain economically beneficial transport alternatives in rural locales experiencing population decline, alleviate traffic congestion and air pollutants, and aid the integration of electric vehicles within urban settings. The project aimed to conceive comprehensive networks for synchronized passenger and freight transportation, with the corresponding coordination, strategic planning, and scheduling strategies. These endeavors enhance the efficiency and dependability of delivering to passengers and modest to medium-sized freight quantities.
The Cargo Hitching project marked a pivotal moment, triggering a cascade of outcomes and pilot programs that have unfolded since its inception. The endeavor has yielded valuable insights and resulted in the implementation of various experimental initiatives and trial runs. The enduring impact of this project underscores the ongoing momentum behind the quest for seamlessly integrating the transportation of people and goods.
In recent years, our research group in Eindhoven has been actively publishing numerous papers on Cargo Hitching. One notable article titled “Supply, Demand, Operations, and Management of Crowd-shipping Services: A Review and Empirical Evidence” was published in Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies. This paper extensively reviews current practices, academic research, and empirical case studies within supply, demand, operations, and management. Identifying gaps in practice and research, the paper proposes avenues for application, operational and managerial improvements, and enhancing behavioral and societal impacts, aiming to create a complex yet integrated, dynamic, and sustainable crowd-shipping system.
Furthermore, our research has examined pricing and compensation schemes for crowd-shipping systems. Collaborating with other researchers, we developed an integrated framework of matching and routing models to determine these schemes under varying demand and supply scenarios. Four distinct pricing and compensation schemes were generated and evaluated, based on “flat” versus “individual” settings, offering insights into their effectiveness and applicability.
Another significant contribution is our exploration of delivery systems involving crowd-sourced drivers. In partnership with colleagues, we investigated the benefits of introducing transfers in a crowdsourced system where drivers express their availability for delivery tasks. This approach aimed to reduce system-wide travel distances and optimize the number of drivers required, especially in scenarios with limited driver availability and high service requirements.
Additionally, we published papers on integrating autonomous delivery services into passenger transportation systems. This research envisions a scenario where a fleet of grounded and autonomous pickup and delivery (PD) robots collaborates with public transportation services. Passengers and PD robots, carrying freight, share capacity on scheduled lines, emphasizing passenger priority. This integrated model showcases significant cost savings and performance comparable to separate passenger and freight systems, highlighting the potential for more sustainable urban logistics.
Our research group’s contributions span diverse aspects of cargo hitching, ranging from supply-demand dynamics and operational management to pricing strategies, integration of autonomous systems, and addressing the evolving challenges and opportunities in city logistics and transportation.
Here is a complete list of our papers that might be of interest:
- Demir, E., A. Syntetos, T. Van Woensel (2022), Last mile logistics: Research trends and needs, IMA Journal of Management Mathematics, 33, 4, p. 549-561
- Le, T.V., J. Xue, T. Van Woensel, S. Ukkusuri (2021), Pricing and compensation schemes for crowd-shipping systems, Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 149, 20 p., 102209
- Mourad, A., J. Puchinger, T. Van Woensel (2021), Integrating autonomous delivery service into a passenger transportation system, International Journal of Production Research, 59, 7, p. 2116-2139
- Sampaio, A., M. Savelsbergh, L. Veelenturf, T. Van Woensel (2020), Delivery Systems with Crowd-Sourced Drivers: A Pickup and Delivery Problem with Transfers, Networks, 76, 2, pp. 232-255
- Larsen, A. and T. Van Woensel (2019), Freight, logistics and the delivery of goods in cities, chapter in Transforming Urban Mobility, DTU International Energy Report 2019
- Le, T.V., A. Stathopoulos, T. Van Woensel, S. Ukkusuri (2019), Supply, Demand, Operations, and Management of Crowd-shipping Services: A Review and Empirical Evidence, Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 103, 83-103
- Sampaio, A., M. Savelsbergh, L. Veelenturf, T. Van Woensel (2019), Crowd-based city logistics, bookchapter in Sustainable Transportation and Smart Logistics, Faulin, J., Grasman, S. E., Juan, A. A. & Hirsch, P. (eds.), pp. 381-400
- Ghilas, V., J.F. Cordeau, E. Demir and T. Van Woensel (2018), An Exact Approach for the Pickup and Delivery Problem with Time Windows and Scheduled Lines, Transportation Science, 52, 5, p. 1191-1210
- Ghilas, V., E. Demir and T. Van Woensel (2016), An Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search Heuristic for the Pickup and Delivery Problems with Fixed Scheduled Lines Services, Computers and Operations Research, 72, 12-30
- Ghilas, V., E. Demir and T. Van Woensel (2016), The pickup and delivery problem with time windows and scheduled lines, INFOR, 54(2), 147-167
- Savelsbergh, M.W.P. and T. Van Woensel (2016), City Logistics: Challenges and Opportunities, Transportation Science, volume 50, issue 2, 579-590
- Ghilas, V., E. Demir and T. Van Woensel (2016), A scenario-based planning approach for the pickup and delivery problem with scheduled lines and stochastic demands, Transportation Research Part B, Methodological, volume 91, 34-51
- Li, B., D. Krushinsky, T. Van Woensel and H. Reijers (2016), The Share-a-Ride problem with Stochastic Travel Times and stochastic delivery locations, Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, Volume 67, Pages 95–108
- Li, B., D. Krushinsky, T. Van Woensel and H. Reijers (2015), An Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search Heuristic for the Share-a-Ride Problems, Computers and Operations Research, 244(1), 100-109
- Li, B., D. Krushinsky, H. Reijers, T. Van Woensel (2014), The Share-a-Ride Problem: People and Parcels Sharing Taxis, European Journal of Operational Research, 238(1), pp. 31–40
Tom Van Woensel 