Pilot for Last-Mile Delivery Hub Launches, Seattle, WA, 2021

The Urban Freight Lab at the University of Washington has launched the Seattle Neighborhood Delivery Hub, a last-mile delivery pilot located at a parking lot in the city’s Uptown neighborhood. Key partners in this pilot include the Seattle Department of Transportation and technology and delivery companies like AxleHire, BrightDrop, Coaster Cycles, and REEF. At the delivery hub, trucks can drop off parcels, which can then be delivered by electric-assist cargo tricycles or picked up at an on-site common carrier parcel locker. A ghost kitchen is also located on site for businesses to prepare and deliver food or for customers to pick up. The microhub functions both as an area for zero-emission last-mile deliveries and as a community space.

This pilot is part of Seattle’s broader strategy to have 30 percent or more of its goods to be delivered by zero-emissions vehicles by 2030, as outlined in the city’s Clean Transportation Electrification Blueprint. With new transportation technologies becoming increasingly available, Seattle is an opportune location to pilot this last-delivery pilot as a technology hub. This pilot’s impact can be measured by seeing if this and other hubs become permanent fixtures across different communities in the future.

Last updated June 29, 2021