Notes

- e-commerce has grown 20 percent annually each year
- By 2021, she estimates, e-commerce will make up 18 percent of total sales in the U.S., 20 percent of sales in the UK, and 30 percent of sales in China.
- trucks, currently 7 percent of U.S. traffic, create 28 percent of the nation’s congestion
- These projections mean more boxes, more trucks, more stops, and more congestion.
- half the packages delivered to offices and commercial spaces were actually meant for workers to take home, adding to the overwhelming number of packages arriving at reception desks.
- half of the trucks making deliveries in downtown Seattle were forced to park in unauthorized spots or double-park on busy streets
- 80 to 90 percent of the time delivery drivers spend working is on foot, tracking down absent apartment dwellers and locating the right office
- Boston drivers lost 164 hours in rush-hour congestion on average last year that they otherwise would not have if they drove at other times of the day
- All that time drivers spent with their foot on the brake cost each an average of $2,291 last year — with a total of $4.1 billion for all of Boston — in lost productivity time, according to the study. Nationally, congestion cost Americans $87 billion in 2018, with an average of $1,348 per driver, the report says.
- Other metrics in the report include the inner city last-mile travel time — or “the time it takes to travel one mile into the central business district during peak hours,” the study says — where Boston came in at 6 minutes. The city’s “inner-city last-mile speed” was recorded at an 11 mph average.
Sources:
- https://depts.washington.edu/sctlctr/news-events/in-the-news/how-your-online-shopping-snarls-traffic-city-streets
- https://www.boston.com/cars/commute/2019/02/12/boston-worst-rush-hour-traffic