Cities catch up for new urban logistics

In recent months, many Spanish cities have been introducing new municipal regulations related to access to urban centres, as well as the use of loading and unloading bays.

Little by little, cities seem to be becoming aware that logistics is an essential service for the urban population and for the economic fabric that makes up the establishments of the main population centres.

Thus, many Spanish municipalities have been introducing in their local regulations some aspects related to the urban distribution of goods, mainly in aspects related to access to urban centres, as well as the use of loading and unloading spaces.

Bilbao

Since the beginning of September 2022, the new Pedestrian Preference Ordinance has been in force in the old quarter of Bilbao, which monitors and regulates vehicle access to this area by means of a system of digital number plate readers.

The regulation also involves changes in the regulation of loading and unloading in this restricted access area in the centre of the capital of Bizkaia.

“The dispersion of regulations in the field of urban distribution is one of the main obstacles encountered by operators who carry out their work beyond the local sphere”.

Specifically, loading and unloading operations may only be carried out by mixed vehicles with two seats, vans and lorries with a gross vehicle weight of less than 5.5 tonnes and a height of less than 2.9 metres.

Likewise, the maximum time limit will be thirty minutes per access and day, between eight and eleven o’clock in the morning from Monday to Saturday.

Madrid

The city of Madrid has already implemented its 360º Urban Goods Distribution Strategy.

This initiative, focused on logistics activity, aims to optimise the distribution of goods and turn it into an efficient and sustainable model, within the new models of mobility in urban environments.

The Consistory of the Spanish capital has developed a new mobile application for reserving loading and unloading spaces that should be fully operational by mid-January 2023.

This strategy also involves an increase in the number of spaces for loading and unloading goods to 1,000 more by 2025 and an extension of the timetable for carrying out these operations to 45 minutes, with the possibility of extending it for Eco or zero-emission vehicles, between seven in the morning and eight in the evening.

Also, just before the end of the year, a moratorium has been approved so that light goods vehicles with environmental classification B can continue to access the Special Protection Zone of the Central District of the capital until 31 December 2023.