Pittsburgh launches smart loading zones as part of a kerb management pilot

Pittsburgh has kicked off a year-long kerb management pilot that will replace 20 existing delivery loading areas with camera-enabled ‘smart’ zones.

The city has been awarded a US$100,000 grant from software firm Automotus to run the pilot, which will study the impact of kerbside loading zones by analysing activity in real time, automating payment for delivery firms and sharing parking availability data with drivers.

Delivered through the city’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI) and the Pittsburgh Parking Authority, the project aims to cut parking-related traffic by 20 percent and incidents of double-parking by 60 percent.

Speaking to Cities Today, DOMI’s Acting Director Kim Lucas said: “When the kerb is not operating efficiently, it has a negative impact on the rest of the roadway space.

“You have people double parking because they can’t get to the kerb, or they’re unloading unsafely, or businesses are suffering because people can’t access them.”

Pay by minute

Delivery drivers interested in participating in the pilot can sign up through a web-based app, with registered vehicles charged by the minute to ensure more accurate – and potentially cheaper – parking costs.

Each vehicle will be invoiced automatically based on its licence plate information.

“We have hundreds and hundreds of loading zones citywide, but we know that our enforcement – which is manual and relies on an officer being present – can’t be everywhere,” added Lucas.

“And so by being able to experiment with automated enforcement, we hope we’ll see a greater turnover of that space, and have it become more reliably available for the people who need it for loading purposes.”

A survey from Automotus in February 2022 found that out of 120 delivery drivers, less than one in 10 were able to find a parking spot upon arrival, while 25 percent typically spent four to seven minutes looking for a parking spot.

Another 25 percent said they parked in spots not meant for them if they couldn’t find an open parking space, and almost 60 percent said once they found a spot, the process of paying for parking added another two minutes to their delivery time.

Privacy

Automotus says its technology captures only three specific types of data: de-identified sample image data to train the technology; de-identified traffic and kerb activity metadata to inform smarter policies; and vehicle licence plate information for the purpose of automatically processing parking payments.

The firm maintains that licence plate information is the only form of personally identifiable information that it collects and it never captures or shares this information for any purpose other than to facilitate automated payment.

Commercial delivery globally has grown at an unprecedented rate, leading to increased congestion, emissions, and safety hazards in urban areas.

The World Economic Forum anticipates a 36 percent rise in delivery vehicles in the world’s top 100 cities by 2030 (compared to 2019 levels), while in 2020 alone e-commerce grew by 44 percent.

Testing theories

Several cities – including Las Vegas and Seattle – have experimented with innovative ways of managing the kerb, but Pittsburg’s pilot marks a new departure in public-private cooperation.

“By making a grant opportunity, they [Automotus] enabled cities like ours to express interest and to actively pursue this,” added Lucas.

“I think if you’re a business and you want to test out your theories and your materials, sometimes it can involve a lot of sales calls and a lot of time talking to cities that don’t have the issues that you’re hoping to solve and don’t have an interest in participating or innovating.

“So what they [Automotus] get out of it [the pilot] is to be able to test their wares and see if their theory – that they can help streets operate more efficiently – is real, and also test their relationship with the city.

“If you can control your kerb, you can control everything about your roadways.”

Image: Jun Seita (Flickr)