Performance and Intrusiveness of Crowdshipping Systems: An Experiment with Commuting Cyclists in The Netherlands

Xiao Lin, Yoshinari Nishiki and Lóránt A. Tavasszy
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Xiao Lin: Department of Transport and Planning, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CN Delft, The Netherlands
Yoshinari Nishiki: Technology of Future Utopia (TOFU), 3022 BH Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Lóránt A. Tavasszy: Department of Transport and Planning, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CN Delft, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 17, 1-14

Abstract: Crowdshipping systems are receiving increasing attention in both industry and academia. Different aspects of crowdshipping (summarized as platform, supply, and demand) are investigated in research. To date, the mutual influence of crowdshipping platform design and its supply side (with participating crowdshippers) has not yet been thoroughly investigated. This paper addresses this mutual influence by investigating the relations between shipping performance and intrusiveness to daily trips of commuters who voluntarily act as cycle couriers. In an experiment in The Hague, cyclists were asked to transport small parcels during a simulated daily commuting routine. The grid of commuting trips acted as a relay network to move parcels to their individual destinations. All the movements of the parcels were recorded by GPS trackers. The analysis indicates that a higher degree of complexity of rules in crowdshipping systems can lead to better system performance. Meanwhile, it also imposes higher intrusiveness, as participants need to deviate more from their routines of daily, uninterrupted trips. The case also suggests that a well-designed crowdshipping system can increase system performance without having to ask too much from crowdshippers. This study provides reference to better design such systems, and opens up directions for further research that can be used to provide thorough guidelines for the implementation of crowdshipping platforms.

Keywords: city logistics; self-organizing system; crowdsourced logistics; crowdshipping; performance measurement; intrusiveness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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