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How about all those amazon deliveries? I'm all for banning garaging on roads, and I don't see why private cars need to be driven in the centre of major cities

How about all those amazon deliveries? I'm all for banning garaging on roads, and I don't see why private cars need to be driven in the centre of major cities at all, especially during the day. Things like the London congestion charge for all cars from say 7AM to 9PM (depending on when transit is running well) are great, although should really scale with the value of the car. But when the supermarket drops the weekly shop off, they need somewhere to park for 10 minutes.

madhadron 8y ago
A number of large cities had extensive networks of pneumatic tubes and underground rail runnels for delivery. They fell out of use with the rise of cars, but the idea that deliveries go via vehicles on streets is far from a given.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  Coincidentally, Chicago has a disused network of underground delivery rail tunnels. They were widely forgotten until a pile was driven into one beneath the Chicago River and the river flooded many of the buildings in the downtown's Loop district.† Today a few are still used, though not for deliveries. Mostly for running fiber optic networks, and the Palmer House Hotel uses its section to raise mushrooms for its restaurant.‡ † https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_flood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_flood ‡ https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140618/loop/palmer-house-hilton-grows-mushrooms-old-tunnel-under-loop/ https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140618/loop/palmer-house-h...
airstrike 8y ago
> How about all those amazon deliveries? That's what the drones are for
cimmanom 8y ago
There's a concept called "loading zones", which are curb space set aside specifically for commercial vehicles to stop for short periods while loading and unloading deliveries. They're very compatible with the rest of the curbside lane being set aside for parking (if they're actually enforced), or with that lane being built out with sidewalk extensions, micro-parks, bicycle parking, bus bulbs... etc.

madhadron 8y ago

A number of large cities had extensive networks of pneumatic tubes and underground rail runnels for delivery. They fell out of use with the rise of cars, but the idea that deliveries go via vehicles on streets is far from a given.

reaperducer 8y ago
Coincidentally, Chicago has a disused network of underground delivery rail tunnels. They were widely forgotten until a pile was driven into one beneath the Chicago River and the river flooded many of the buildings in the downtown's Loop district.† Today a few are still used, though not for deliveries. Mostly for running fiber optic networks, and the Palmer House Hotel uses its section to raise mushrooms for its restaurant.‡ † https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_flood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_flood ‡ https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140618/loop/palmer-house-hilton-grows-mushrooms-old-tunnel-under-loop/ https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140618/loop/palmer-house-h...

airstrike 8y ago

> How about all those amazon deliveries? That's what the drones are for

cimmanom 8y ago

There's a concept called "loading zones", which are curb space set aside specifically for commercial vehicles to stop for short periods while loading and unloading deliveries. They're very compatible with the rest of the curbside lane being set aside for parking (if they're actually enforced), or with that lane being built out with sidewalk extensions, micro-parks, bicycle parking, bus bulbs... etc.