Research context
Last-mile logistics is moving from vans and diesel trucks to cargo bikes as zero-emission zones expand. Heavier and wider delivery bikes increasingly share cycling infrastructure with commuters, e-bikes, and ordinary cyclists, so courier routing choices affect risk across the network.
Navigation systems that send each courier along an individually fast and safe route can concentrate traffic on a small number of corridors. This thesis studies the gap between that individual routing pattern and coordinated routing that keeps total risk low for couriers and surrounding cyclists.
Research questions
- How large is the gap between individual routing and coordinated routing that minimizes total risk?
- Which forms of route guidance, incentives, or coordinated assignment can close that gap, and how is the reduction in risk shared among couriers?
What you will do
- Model how couriers move through the cycling network and how risk on a link changes as it becomes busier.
- Compare individual courier routing with coordinated fleet routing and quantify the difference.
- Evaluate guidance, incentives, and coordination mechanisms using real Amsterdam data, including who benefits from the resulting risk reduction.
Background
The project suits a student interested in networks and optimization who is comfortable programming, for example in Python. Exposure to traffic assignment, network equilibrium, or game theory is useful, together with curiosity about how delivery operators and cities interact.
Project setting
The work uses real Amsterdam data within the PROSPER research programme (TKI Dinalog) at ORBIT Lab, in partnership with Pon Holdings, Tring Tring, Gemeente Amsterdam, and AMS Institute.