It's easy to get discouraged and give up on positive social change these days. Government seems unresponsive to the common man or woman, or worse, purposely harmful, even criminally, responsive instead.
But what if you could make a change, a small change? And what if that small change went unacknowledged? Would you do it? How small is too small to bother with? Or, more pointedly for some: how small is too small to satisfy your ego?
On March 16, 2021, I wrote the following to the New York City based Waterfront Alliance, then followed up to my local representatives, agencies, and other media in slightly altered form. As you can see in The Broadsheet (the only media outlet to carry the news of my much larger RiverArch project in December, 2019) here, it is now an official policy for fish delivery, but in New York City, these last mile vehicles are now everywhere, saving energy, reducing pollution since they are all electric, lowering traffic, and providing new low skill but secure jobs. Did I inspire this transformation? Below, my own self-acknowledgment, though the second link had to be updated from this old email.
Margaret Flanagan:
I found your article in the Waterfront Alliance newsletter interesting this morning: click here, because I have been thinking along similar lines with regards to electrification of deliveries from urban ports. But perhaps it can be taken a step further?
What if shippers sorted packages and made them ready for delivery at major container ports, but instead of loading them up on hulking, polluting large trucks to drive all over the city, they were micro-sorted onto 3-wheel electric micro-vehicles, e.g. like the Acrimoto Deliverator, managed by Hyercar: Click Here? This is just one example of a small, efficient vehicle that can be perpendicularly parked and unloaded directly onto New York City's busy sidewalks for final delivery to buildings. This would end sprawling, time-consuming, disruptive, sidewalk-monopolizing package sorting at multiple destinations on complicated traffic-clogged streets - often with clogged with those very trucks delivering online purchases!
Small, targeted vehicles, might not have the range to deliver packages from, say, Elizabeth, New Jersey's massive port facilities, to points in New York City. But the city has dozens of ports ready for small barge freight along its 520 miles of coastline. A hundred micro-trucks could be loaded onto a barge, driverless - perhaps one day autonomously - at the outgoing port after package sorting. Then, at the destination micro-distribution port, equipped with drivers/unloaders (it's unlikely we will replace unloaders and delivery persons with robots capable of navigating myriad apartment dwellings anytime soon). By keeping destinations within a pre-defined (by zip code?) neighborhood, what truck traffic remains would be small vehicle, targeted precisely to those neighborhoods and well within electric vehicle ranges. The ports could have fast-recharge stations for when the vehicles return for the next round.
This last mile delivery system - which I'll call Port to Portal for now - would make deliveries faster, more efficient, and clear the streets of what are probably the fastest growing class of vehicles: trucks delivering online purchases. The pandemic accelerated the growth of the eCommerce sector, but the trend was firmly established before that. This method of delivery might even benefit small shops that don't need huge deliveries of specific items at one time.
A system like Hyercar would employ thousands of gig workers, who know the local streets, and who have the skills to drive a small, maneuverable e-vehicle, but are not licensed or skilled to drive a large truck. Such jobs are badly needed in a recession that has affected working class people especially hard. (I don't work for, or have any relation to, or investment in, Hyercar or Acrimoto).
Here is the opening of The Broadsheet article:
On Wednesday, December 17, the nonprofit organization Empire Clean Cities led a demonstration on the East River waterfront to show how maritime transport paired with electric cargo bikes can transform urban freight delivery. Reducing reliance on truck deliveries means decreased diesel pollution. The result: cleaner air.
In this trial, fresh seafood was hauled down the East River by boat from the Fulton Fish Market at Hunts Point (the Bronx) to Pier 16 (South Street Seaport). This leg of the journey was handled by the U.S. Coastal Service, a maritime shipper in the process of building a marine transport network across New York and New Jersey. The company's 118-foot Caribbean Ferry, which can move up to 100 tons of cargo, is specially configured for micro-freight runs.
Once Caribbean Ferry had docked at Pier 16, the shipment was loaded onto e-cargo bikes (each of which has the carrying capacity of a van) provided by Net Zero Logistics, a firm specializing in "last mile" deliveries. Boxes were delivered by bike to the nearby Tin Building.
Little changes in big cities make big changes. Who knows if your letters to the editor, messages to the Pols, or screeds to the Agencies will matter? But will you try?
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