Commercial fleets can start pre-booking loading bays in Camden

The Cross River Partnership (CRP) has expanded pre-booking for dedicated loading spaces for fleets with two new locations in the London Borough of Camden.

These “Virtual Loading Bays” (VLBs) allow registered delivery drivers to pre-book free dedicated space at the kerbside to load and unload using the Grid Kerb Delivery booking application.

The expansion into Camden with two VLBs, which are located on Morwell Street and Kentish Town Road, follows on from the launch of trials at the Ye Olde Watling and Williamson Tavern pubs as specific use cases.

The VLB trials have been introduced so fleets can book guaranteed space for freight activities to take place for a “safe amount of time”, it means fleets can plan to beat congested hours, as well as allow for local authorities to better plan and manage kerbside freight movements.

CRP is still looking for more commercial fleets to join the Defra-funded Smarter Greener Logistics Kerbside Management trial, which includes partnerships with City of London Corporation, London Borough of Camden, London Borough of Lambeth and London Borough of  Richmond.

The Kerbside Management Trial is part of Smarter Greener Logistics (SGL), a Defra-funded  project led by Westminster City Council in collaboration with 25 project partners. The  project aims to minimise the impact of freight on noise, air quality, traffic and pavement  space in London by making improvements across 14 London boroughs and two London  Business Improvement Districts (BIDs).

Katherine Fairfax, project manager at CRP, said: “CRP’s Defra-funded Kerbside Management Trial provides an exciting opportunity to test Grid Smarter Cities’ innovative kerbside technology and monitor the impacts to local  congestion and air quality.”

• Full details on the growing  network of Virtual Loading Bays and how to get involved can be found on the trial website: gridsmartercities.com/smarter-greener-logistics-crp