London has always been a patchwork city – when you’re packing modern life into a 2000 year old city, that comes with the territory. The most recent of these advances, the gig delivery economy, has seen what MyLondon have described as a ‘completely lawless’ delivery scene. Indeed, there’s almost endless tension between delivery services and this is having a long-term impact on the courier and logistics industry within the capital. It’s arguably time to return to step one.
Increased competition
The challenge being faced on London roads is one of competition. There are more and more delivery tasks being made, yet the roads can only take so much. This has seen the rise of 24 hour delivery services on express premiums; this provides the most appropriate service to customers while keeping traffic issues to the minimum. This is increasingly important with the rise of on-demand grocery apps such as Yandex, which CNBC cites as a major competitor to conventional grocery delivery and a source of even greater road demand.
New challenges
Of course, further issues have been created by the congestion zone expansion. Prices raised in June have been made permanent according to the BBC and now, with the expansion of the congestion zone to a wider net of London, there’s a lot more pressure on drivers. The exceptions are beneficial to yet more night-time work, and especially so with electric vehicles – 22:00 to 07:00 are the free hours.
Delivery futures?
One potential answer to all of this is The Magway. The Evening Standard highlights how this system which includes a UK courier, using a series of magnetically powered tubes under the streets of London, could be a way to push goods around, on demand, without ever having to take to the roads. Once again, however, night will come in and be of crucial importance – maintenance of these theoretical tunnels would need to be done under cover of darkness given how extremely disruptive they would be otherwise.
In short, the London delivery industry is going to thrive at night. Streets are becoming more and more congested with private courier and on-demand shipping. Changing how delivery companies think about their system, and how to make the most out of the current delivery ecosystem and consumer demands, is essential to a future where delivery can continue to be on-demand and isn’t dominated by a congested London centre.
