A study that paid cash to city retailers to do their restocking late at night cut truck delivery times by up to 75 percent — and could pave the way to a less congested New York, said the report’s author.
Drop-offs typically lasting two hours were cut to 30 minutes when truckers and retailers linked up between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., said engineering professor José Holguín-Veras, who studies urban freight systems at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
“I was stunned,” Holguín-Veras said of the results obtained from the federally funded, two-year field test.
New York City is loathed by truck operators, who rack up traffic fines working peak hours but can’t say no because their customers insist, Holguín-Veras found.
So he offered $2,000 stipends to local businesses to accept night deliveries and adopt a system where even closed, unattended locations could have their wares dropped off securely.
About 150 stores and restaurants — including Whole Foods, Foot Locker and Just Salad — took part.
Drivers found themselves jousting with fewer pedestrians and vehicles.
Retailers, too, were happy.
“Our locations will continue to receive ‘night drops’ even though this program has ended,” said Nick Kenner of Just Salad.