![]() Nowadays, a city LSP should develop distribution strategy able to orient delivery operations by considering both economic and environmental aspects. ![]() Most of these efforts are focused on the integration of solutions motivated by sustainable cities and communities 9. So, as LSPs are trying to keep their delivery times and costs at a minimum level, they also must think about providing a solution which reduces the negative environmental impacts last-mile distribution to address the goal number 11 and 13 of SDGs. Moreover, according to the seventeen interconnected Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed in the united nations 2030 agenda, there is an urgent need to take these goals into the decision to achieve a better and more sustainable future 8. ![]() Therefore, increasing number of city Logistic Service Providers (LSPs) which are experimenting with alternative vehicle technologies to overcome the impending limitations to the efficiency of conventional delivery operations. In urban areas, the predominant factor for productivity of a distribution system is to reduce the negative impact of travel time, and, in turn, increase the service level 7. The difficulties associated with urban distribution systems made the conventional delivery vehicles an unsatisfactory means of transportation for goods delivery due to their high fuel costs, delays in populated metropolises, and the impact on the environment 6. On the other hand, the continued growth of traffic loads on roads due to global urbanization created major obstacles to the successful delivery of goods and services to customers. With the boom of e-commerce, consumers are expecting increasingly fast and responsive delivery services, which shifted market share from business-to-business (B2B) to business-to-consumer (B2C). From an operational perspective, optimal planning of last-mile delivery routes constitutes a particularly challenging and costly problem because of two main global changes: the rise of e-commerce and rapid global urbanization 5. Similarly, it is reported that the total cost of global parcel delivery operations will exceed 70 billion Euros a year, with last-mile delivery constituting more than 50% of these total costs 4. For many companies, the so-called last-mile distribution to the customers can account for up to 28% of the total transportation cost 3. Last-mile delivery refers to the final transportation of goods from distribution centers toward customers, which is often considered as the most expensive and the most complicated process of a supply chain 1, 2. The results show that there are high potentials to save energy for drone-enabled last-mile delivery by using the public transportation network. Also, using public transport vehicles, which enables drones to charge their battery or to approach customers, can reduce the number of drones required for satisfying the demands in a service area. Results show that the sequence of visiting customers and public transport stations highly impacts the remaining charge and efficiency of drone tour planning. A real-world case inspired by Bremen 2025 transportation paradigm is also developed to validate the developed mathematical formulation. A mathematical model based on Vehicle routing Problem (VRP) is extended to solve this problem. This paper considers a last-mile delivery system in which a set of drones are operated in coordination with public transportation system to deliver a set of orders to customer locations. Deploying drones as a promising technology is more efficient from both environmental and economic perspectives in last-mile delivery. Many firms are looking for ways to cut delivery times and costs by exploring opportunities to take advantage of drone technology. ![]() The fast and cost-efficient delivery of goods ordered online is logistically a challenging problem.
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