Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto, Portugal, June 28, 2024 (Lusa) - The Portuguese government on Friday launched a pilot project in Porto to reformulate urban logistics, making it more sustainable and decongested, after designing it for Lisbon, announcing that it intends to do so in more cities.
"We have already designed a pilot project in the city of Lisbon, and today we have launched the challenge to the city of Porto, to have two pilot projects in the area of micro-logistics and urban logistics," Miguel Pinto Luz, the minister for housing, told reporters today.
He was speaking after the inauguration ceremony for the extension of the Metro do Porto Yellow Line (D) between Santo Ovídio and Vila d'Este, in Vila Nova de Gaia, which took place this morning at Manuel Leão station.
"How can we prevent or mitigate the lorries and buses that are entering the city to supply the entire economic fabric? That's the change we have to make," he emphasised.
For the minister, means of transport such as the metro can "play a role", but he also pointed out "other types of offers, such as those that operate car parks today, and having lighter vehicles, preferably electric, that can make that last mile of supply to restaurants, shops, shopping centres".
"We have these two pilots in the pipeline [Lisbon and Porto], and as soon as possible we will announce them publicly," he said.
Porto's 2021 Sustainable Urban Logistics Plan (PLUS), to improve the constraints and pollution associated with deliveries in the city, only makes explicit reference to soft modes for this activity.
Porto's PLUS, drawn up in 2021, provided three years for its implementation and states that "the circulation of goods transport vehicles and activities related to urban logistics condition mobility in the city, at the same time as they are themselves conditioned by current circumstances: congestion, illegal and abusive parking".
Among the actions envisaged in the PLUS were updating the access regulations for heavy goods vehicles, strengthening enforcement, sensorisation of loading and unloading bays, the circulation of goods vehicles on BUS lanes, the creation of urban logistics zones with zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and the creation of logistics micro-platforms and parcel delivery and collection points.
There is also a single explicit reference to the use of soft mobility, rather than cars (which take up more space in the city), stating that it wants to promote "the consolidation of goods and the use of soft modes in places with strong tourist pressure and where the urban morphology does not favour car circulation".
In March of this year, the Porto city council, in a response to Lusa, said it wanted legislation from the government, which has since taken office, to give it more autonomy to regulate urban logistics.
JE/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
