RCE Peel - 2023

Pilot Off-Peak Delivery (OPD) Program in Peel Region
CSV
Basic Information
Title of project : 
Pilot Off-Peak Delivery (OPD) Program in Peel Region
Submitting RCE: 
RCE Peel
Contributing organization(s) : 
Peel Region, Smart Freight Centre, University of Toronto
Focal point(s) and affiliation(s)
Name: 
RCE Peel
Organizational Affiliation: 
Peel Region
E-mail: 
[email protected]
Format of project: 
Report
Language of project: 
English
Date of submission:
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Web link: 
https://smartfreightcentre.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/SFC-OPDPeelPilot-FinalReport-January30_2020.pdf
Additional resources: 
N/A
Does this project link to any education and/or sustainable development policy or policies?: 
Yes
The study follows Long-Term Pathways 8 of Peel Region’s Long-Term Goods Movement (2019) and Action 3 of Peel Region’s Goods Movement Strategic Plan (2017-2021): Implement pilot projects for OPD & Increase Capacity with Convenient and Feasible OPD
At what level is the policy operating?: 
Local
Geographical & Education Information
Region: 
Americas
Country: 
Canada
Location(s): 
Peel region
Address of focal point institution for project: 
N/A
Ecosystem(s):
Urban/Peri-urban
Target Audience:
Community
Socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of the area : 
Peel Region is a regional municipality in the province of Ontario, Canada. It encompasses the cities of Brampton and Mississauga, and the Town of Caledon. Peel is characterized by a diverse and rapidly growing region with a strong industrial and commercial base, and extensive transportation network.
Peel Region is a major economic hub, particularly in the logistics and manufacturing sectors, due to its strategic location near Toronto and its access to key transportation infrastructure. Peel benefits from its proximity to major highways which enable efficient goods movement across Ontario and into the United States. Peel Region is also home to Toronto Pearson International Airport, the busiest airport in Canada, which plays a vital role in air cargo operations and connects the region to global markets. This combination of robust transportation infrastructure supports Peel's role as a key logistics and manufacturing center, attracting businesses that rely on efficient access to domestic and international markets.
Environmentally, Peel faces challenges related to urban sprawl, traffic congestion, and air quality, but is also home to significant green spaces and agricultural areas, balancing urban development with environmental preservation efforts
Description of sustainable development challenge(s) in the area the project addresses: 
Peel Region faces sustainable development challenges such as balancing rapid urbanization with environmental preservation, mitigating traffic congestion, and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from freight and passenger transport.
Additionally, ensuring equitable access to green spaces and transit, addressing air quality and health impacts, and implementing resilient infrastructure to withstand climate change are critical areas of focus for sustainable growth
Contents
Status: 
Completed
Period: 
February, 2019
Rationale: 
The purpose of this project is to initiate an Off-Peak Delivery (OPD) pilot in Peel Region. Lessons learned during this pilot will encourage the long-term goal of implementing a full time OPD program in Peel in the future. Focus is placed on deliveries to areas in Peel where OPD is feasible and beneficial for participating firms. In contrast to other previously implemented OPD projects, this pilot focuses on deliveries in suburban areas. Lessons from the pilot are intended to inform how Peel Region and, more broadly, municipalities across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area can enable OPD.
The desired outcomes are:
• To reduce traffic congestion on corridors with high truck traffic volumes
• To provide firms and municipalities with a strategy to mitigate congestion, and improve goods movement efficiency
• To take lessons learned from the pilot to inform the scalability of OPD in Peel Region and the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area in the long term.
Objectives: 
The objectives of this pilot project are as follows:
• Identify and recruit firms that are interested in participating in the OPD pilot
• Collaborate with participating firms to identify challenges to pilot OPD, develop strategies to respond to the challenges, and design customized business plans
• Implement the OPD pilot to the selected stores from each participating business
• Measure the performance of OPD
• Collect lessons learned for region-wide implementation of OPD
Activities and/or practices employed: 
Key activities of the Off-Peak Delivery program:
• Case studies to better understand the key benefits and challenges to expect in a pilot program, and to study the appropriate strategy for evaluation and benchmarking of results
• Identify the benefits and challenges of OPD, where potential benefits include societal benefits to residents, as well as operational benefits to businesses. It also requires addressing several challenges, including receiver participation in the off-peak delivery program, noise restrictions when delivering near residential areas, and security issues associated with making deliveries at night.
• Evaluate off-peak delivery methods; assisted delivery is the most common delivery method for daytime deliveries. Different methods for unassisted delivery exist, depending on the type of product being delivered and the business setup
• Design of OPD Pilot in Peel Region, where three firms participated in the off-peak delivery program over a six-month period. The three firms shifted delivery times at a total of 14 participating retail stores.
• Collecting data through Smart Freight Centre (SFC). SFC received truck tracking and other databases from each of the three participating firms for the duration of the six-month pilot period
Size of academic audience: 
N/A
Results: 
The analysis shows that during the six-month pilot, 30.1% of deliveries to pilot retail stores were made during off-peak hours (7:00 pm to 7:00 am). The average speed of the trips that were made in off-peak hours during the six-month pilot is 18.1% faster than those that happened in daytime hours.
Having higher speed in off-peak hours leads to lower emission factors. The total GHG emissions/km decreased by 10.6%, and emissions factors for air quality pollutants, including CO, NOx, PM10, and PM2.5 reduced by 10.8% to 15.0%.
Results for service times varied between firms, but on average increased by 15.2%, indicating activities in the off-peak hours at the retail stores that prevented overall improvements in service time compared to day-time deliveries
Lessons learned: 
The movement of delivery vehicles to times of day when congestion is lower makes better use of available roadway capacity and reduces congestion for other road users during the peak travel time.
Increases in commercial vehicle travel speed led to lower emission factors which benefit public health and help reduce the regional contributions to GHG emissions. If any additional noise occurred as a result of the OPD pilot program, it was not enough to result in any noise-related complaints.
The improvements in travel speed reduce logistics costs and improve fuel efficiency and therefore enhance the business competitiveness of participating firms.
Key messages: 
The OPD pilot in Peel Region aimed to reduce congestion, improve delivery efficiency, and lower emissions by shifting truck deliveries to less congested hours. The project offers insights on scalability, operational benefits, and strategies to enhance goods movement across the region and the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
Relationship to other RCE activities: 
This project is an outcome of the Smart Freight Centre’s activities by the University of Toronto. The Smart Freight Centre (SFC) has established a collaborative network with the Peel Region, McMaster University, the University of Toronto, and York University. SFC works to reduce community and environmental impacts of moving goods in the Greater Toronto Area.
Funding: 
This study was funded by Peel Region, The Atmospheric Fund, Metrolinx, and the University of Toronto. The contributions of MRK Innovations, Partners in Project Green and Deloitte Canada are acknowledged. LCBO, Loblaw Incorporated, and Walmart Canada participated in the OPD pilot program.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
(https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs) and other themes of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
SDG 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages 
Indirect
SDG 8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all 
Indirect
SDG 9 - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, and foster innovation 
Direct
SDG 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable 
Direct
SDG 12 - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns 
Indirect
SDG 13 - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts 
Direct
Theme
Traditional Knowledge  
Indirect
Forests/Trees 
Indirect
Plants & Animals 
Indirect
Waste 
Indirect
ESD for 2030-Priority Action Areas
Priority Action Area 1 - Advancing policy 
state: 
Direct
Priority Action Area 2 - Transforming learning and training environments 
state: 
Indirect
Priority Action Area 3 - Developing capacities of educators and trainers 
state: 
Indirect
Priority Action Area 5 - Accelerating sustainable solutions at local level 
state: 
Direct
Update: 
No
I acknowledge the above: 
Yes