Toward net-zero urban last-mile logistics: the role of parcel-locker governance

Parcel lockers are promoted as a decarbonisation instrument for urban last-mile delivery, yet their performance depends on network governance: which carriers and consumers may use which terminals. This study compares four locker governance arrangements, dedicated (DPL), partially shared (PSPL), shared (SPL) and planner-coordinated open lockers (OPL), with one another and with door-to-door (D2D) delivery on a multi-carrier instance. A multi-objective, multi-trip vehicle routing model encodes each arrangement through access matrices and jointly minimises carrier operating cost, mean consumer access distance and system CO₂ emissions. The Budapest District V case uses an August 2024 inventory of six private locker operators and thirty full-day demand realisations of 2033 requests. All locker arrangements reduce cost and emissions relative to D2D; most of this gain is obtained once the private network is fully shared, whereas coordinated open siting mainly adds consumer accessibility. Separating interoperability from siting clarifies when SPL and OPL constitute alternative net-zero pathways.