Most of the issues with last-mile come down to time and space. In the small hours of the morning, streets are empty. Traffic is light, but offices are closed and businesses don’t receive packages. The supply and demand curve is not optimized. The idea of multi-driver routes for last-mile delivery, coupled with urban hubs, is a fascinating innovation that can reshape logistics.
🟧 How Multi-Driver routes work
Urban Hubs as Staging Areas: Centralized locations near high-density delivery zones act as transfer points. Larger trucks bring bulk shipments to the hub, where smaller, more agile vehicles (e-cargo bikes or LEVs– light electric vehicles) pick up.
Segmented Routes: Drivers are assigned smaller, localized delivery zones instead of completing long routes individually. Parcels are handed off between drivers as needed, creating a relay-style delivery system.
Dynamic Reallocation: Real-time route optimization software assigns packages to the most efficient driver or vehicle at any given moment, accounting for traffic, weather, and load capacity. Vehicle swapping or load transfers: Drivers can unload and redistribute packages to other vehicles at pre-determined urban hubs, reducing individual workloads and speeding up the process.
🟧 Time and Motion
Faster Deliveries: By splitting the delivery process into shorter, segmented routes, drivers can complete their tasks more quickly. This allows for same-day or even same-hour deliveries in urban areas, where smaller vehicles like e-cargo bikes and electric scooters are better suited to dense city environments.
Optimized Resource Use: Multi-driver routes distribute workload, allowing companies to use their fleet more efficiently and reduce downtime for drivers. Drivers can work shorter shifts in specific areas, rather than being burdened with long, exhaustive routes.
Scalability: The model is agile enough to adapt to varying demand, such as during holiday seasons or peak times, by adding more drivers or vehicles to the system. The multi-driver route concept fundamentally shifts the last-mile delivery paradigm from a linear (one man, one van) process to a dynamic, distributed, real-time, nodal system.
🟧 Real world
Amazon’s Delivery Stations: Amazon uses local delivery hubs to sort packages and assign them to delivery associates who cover smaller zones. These hubs enable Amazon to use subcontracted 3PL drivers efficiently.
UPS Access Points: UPS leverages urban collection points where parcels can be picked up or dropped off by drivers and customers, reducing the need for home deliveries.
DHL Urban Micro-Hubs: DHL has piloted urban depots where packages are transferred to bikes or smaller EVs, increasing delivery speed and reducing congestion.