Dive Brief:
- Last-mile delivery services in New York City are tied to increased crashes, traffic and workplace injuries, as well as more air pollution in predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, according to a report City Comptroller Brad Lander released Monday.
- The report blames a fragmented regulatory environment and corporate subcontracting, which allows major companies to avoid liability for violations of labor and safety standards.
- “The convenience of next-day package delivery has a material cost for New Yorkers,” Lander said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
Almost 90% of goods are delivered by truck in New York City, and freight volumes are expected to grow 70% over the next two decades. Daily package deliveries in New York City rose to 2.5 million in 2024 from over 1.8 million before the COVID-19 pandemic, the report states.
The report examined data on crashes near 18 large warehouse and distribution facilities that opened in the city from 2017 to 2022. It found traffic collisions increased within a half-mile of the facilities at 14 of the 18 sites, with crashes increasing an average of 16% across all the areas studied. Truck-injury crashes rose by 137%. Crashes near two large FedEx and Amazon warehouses in Queens rose by 53% and 48%, respectively, according to the report.
More than two-thirds of these warehouses are in environmental justice areas where Black and Hispanic residents constitute nearly 66% of the population, according to the report. “The concentration of last mile facilities in these neighborhoods points to the need for regulations to mitigate the traffic and environmental burdens they pose,” the report states…