Selection of the best locations for micro-consolidation centers for a city logistics pilot in Budapest

In city logistics infrastructure development, selecting the best possible locations for successful projects is crucial. Nowadays, in more and more cities, micro-consolidation centers are established. According to the literature, three versions with technological and functional differences could be identified: traditional micro-consolidation centers (MicroHUBs), mobile micro-consolidation centers (MobileHUBs), and small-scale parcel consolidation hubs (ParcelHUBs). Finding the best locations for these hubs is a key question in the related projects, and local constraints vary across different areas and cities. For this, it is necessary to develop such location selection frameworks that can help the decision-makers during such developments. In the capital of Hungary, Budapest, a new city logistics pilot is being developed, with such hubs to be established in the LIFE IP HungAIRy project. For this purpose, multiple potential locations were examined in key areas of the city center, and a complex set of criteria and a ranking framework was defined to evaluate these locations, considering the experiences of past similar projects and the specialties of the examined environment. To achieve the best solution, data was collected about the examined locations, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process was applied to identify the most suitable areas. According to the results of this analysis, the Március 15. Square parking area and the Ferenciek Square underpass were selected in the city center of Budapest to establish micro-consolidation centers. Based on the scenario-based models of the Municipality of Budapest, developing these micro-consolidation centers could lead to a 20–80% reduction in freight traffic in the examined area, with 0.2–0.9 µg/m 3 reduction in NO 2 emissions on an annual basis.