Choosing the localisation of loading points for the cargo bicycles system in the Krakow Old Town

Loading points are indispensable elements in the systems of goods delivery by cargo bikes. The choice of the loading points location is a basic issue to be solved when designing cargo distribution systems. The paper proposes an approach to justifying the location of loading points based on computer simulations of the delivery process with the use of cargo bikes. In the developed mathematical model, we present consignees as vertices of the transport network, while the graph edges reflect the sections of the road network. We propose to quantify requests for transport services with numerical parameters, among which the most significant are the size of the consignment, its dimensions, the time interval between requests, and the delivery distance. The developed mathematical model was applied for choosing the loading point localisation for the system of cargo deliveries in the Krakow Old Town: demand parameters for transport of goods in the Old Town area were presented as random variables, the existing road network model was formed, and the system simulations for the alternative locations of a loading point were provided. The simulation results allowed us to substantiate such a loading point location which is characterised by minimal value of the total transport work.