The Distance Between Real Time Data and Decision Making in Urban Road Freight Transportation Systems; The Example of the City of Thessaloniki

Abstract

Road freight transport in urban areas (city logistics) is under study worldwide, especially during the last years, mainly due to its negative impacts to the environment and to the efficient operation of the road network. The modern approach to deal with this rising issue includes the deployment of strategies and measures that take into consideration the conditions prevailing in each study area. In order the decision makers to adopt the proper measures and define the strategy, it is vital for them to have full knowledge of the way an Urban Road Freight Transportation (URFT) system is organized and functions in the field. For this to happen, the decision makers must have under their disposal reliable real time data. After all URFT systems evolve through time and space and it is s crucial that the necessary data not only will be collected correctly but also they will be accessible anytime and anywhere. In this paper a new approach is proposed in order to achieve real time monitoring for URFT systems in order to provide the decision makers with all the necessary data for the case of Greece