The Search for a Better Delivery Truck System for Old, Narrow European Streets

European cities may have an international reputation for getting people out of cars and onto to buses and bikes, but many urban areas here still suffer from a semi-permanent congestion headache.

According to the most recent report from the TomTom Congestion Index, plenty of European cities have road traffic delays that equal or even surpass those in the United States. Warsaw, Marseille, and Palermo all have congestion worse than America’s worst offender, Los Angeles, while Paris, Rome, and Stuttgart hover at around the same level. Admittedly, the worst cases, Moscow and Istanbul, aren’t EU members, but even within the union’s borders many city roads are routinely clogged. The consequences of this systematic congestion aren't all negative – bottlenecks can ultimately cut pollution by encouraging drivers onto public transit. Still, the EU has been looking hard at ways to clear city center roads of traffic, and of trucks in particular. Some of the ideas they’ve come up with are pretty great.