Smart Box Basel Reduces Delivery Traffic in the City

Online shopping is rapidly increasing, along with urban delivery traffic. The Smart Box Basel aims to provide a solution: As part of a pilot project, the Office for Mobility, Pro Innerstadt Basel, and the Logistics Cluster Region Basel are testing a new, provider-neutral parcel facility at Claraplatz. More will follow. Parcel facilities allow residents to pick up packages at any time and help reduce freight traffic on the roads.

(Basel) The already booming online retail has significantly increased due to the pandemic. In densely populated cities like Basel, the rising number of delivery trips poses potential conflicts in road traffic: “Illegally parked delivery vans obstruct traffic, and separate deliveries from different services can lead to traffic congestion. Therefore, partners from administration and business are jointly seeking solutions that provide more convenience while relieving the streets of delivery traffic,” explains Luca Olivieri, Project Manager Mobility Strategy at the Office for Mobility.

As part of a pilot project, the Office for Mobility, Pro Innerstadt Basel, and the Logistics Cluster Region Basel are testing the first Smart Box Basel, a provider-neutral parcel facility at Claraplatz. “Residents of Basel can conveniently have ordered packages delivered to the Smart Box Basel, where they can pick them up around the clock. Further offerings for local businesses will follow,” explains Mathias F. Böhm, Managing Director of Pro Innerstadt Basel. The main parcel delivery companies were involved in the development of the concept. The goal of the pilot project is to test the practicality and acceptance of new solutions for the increasing parcel traffic by February 2023.

Consolidating Delivery Traffic

Parcel stations are one of the measures of the urban freight transport concept developed jointly by the Office for Mobility and the Logistics Cluster Region Basel. “The parcel boxes consolidate and reduce delivery traffic, and delivery vehicles need to spend less time in the urban area thanks to central unloading options,” says Deborah Strub, Chairwoman of the Logistics Cluster Region Basel. “The current pilot project aims to demonstrate how actively the service is used and how significantly daily traffic volume can be reduced.” A second parcel box facility is planned to follow the first one at Claraplatz in St. Johann. A possible third location is in planning.

The Office for Mobility and Pro Innerstadt Basel finance the Smart Box Basel. The pilot project is supported by Energie Schweiz. The manufacturer and operator of the new facilities is Huber AG, which has also developed an app of the same name for using the Smart Box Basel.

Photo: © Smart Box Basel

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