Urban Deliveries Case Studies Combined 2025

Solution area: Off-hour deliveries Promising practice: New York City’s OHD programmeRising freight demand puts pressure on daytime streets, as trucks compete for limited curb space – slowing traffic, increasing idling emissions and heightening conflicts with pedestrians and cyclists. Off-hour deliveries address this by shifting the movement of goods to evenings and nights, when streets are quieter and loading space is more available. Cities worldwide are adopting such measures: Transport for London has retimed deliveries at hundreds of sites with quiet-delivery practices;3 Utrecht and Amsterdam use noise- sensitive delivery windows and consolidation centres to enable low-impact night access; and Barcelona is expanding night unloading through streamlined, acoustic-based permits.4 This promising practice examines the New York City Off-Hour Deliveries (OHD) programme, one of world’s most extensive. Launched as a pilot in 2009, it has grown into a citywide strategy embedded in climate and mobility plans. Snapshot Trucks carry about 325 million pounds of freight through New York City each year, and the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) projects this will grow by 70% by 2045. This growth creates competition for limited street and curb space, reinforcing the need to manage freight demand more efficiently.5 The New York City OHD programme supports this by retiming certain freight movements outside daytime peaks, typically between 19.00 and 06.00. Starting as a voluntary pilot with 25 receiving and eight transporting businesses, the programme grew to 1,100 city-wide locations by 2021, when financial incentives were added. With congestion pricing and a 75% overnight truck toll discount taking effect in 2025, OHD is positioned as a key framework for freight operators, with funding secured through 2029.6 Environment: –Lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, aligning with the city’s aim to limit total emissions by 80 percent by 2050. –Support energy-efficient, low- carbon operations, consistent with OneNYC’s broader strategies.7Safety: –Improve street safety by reducing daytime crash risks and conflicts with pedestrians and cyclists, when 80% of serious or fatal truck- related crashes occur.Economy: –Foster economic resilience by easing daytime congestion and avoiding the nearly $1 billion in annual costs of congestion by 2045, as projected by the NYC Economic Development Corporation. Objectives The OHD programme supports NYC’s broader objectives: