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How does urban congestion affect road transport in Montreal?

How does urban congestion affect road transport in Montreal?

Urban road network congestion is a serious challenge for merchandise transport companies. Year after year, these companies redouble their efforts to improve their service time. Despite this, they still face many constraints, including urban congestion.

From delays to ever-increasing costs and negative effects on the environment, this article will help you discover the impact of urban congestion on road transport in Montreal.

Montreal traffic: a thorn in the side of Quebec’s road transport companies

Over the years, Montreal has become one of the most densely trafficked cities in the country. Urban congestion has risen sharply in recent years and population growth, as well as seemingly endless roadside construction, are mostly to blame.

Montreal is, according to some studies carried out in 2016, ranked 23rd most congested cities, just behind St. Petersburg in Russia. In 2015, these same studies ranked the city 60th, demonstrating a sharp increase in urban traffic density in just one year.

But what are the consequences of such an increase for companies specializing in road transport?

1. Increased delays

Urban congestion inevitably leads to a slower flow of traffic. Trucks and various delivery vehicles can take up to 5 times the “normal” travel time when going through high traffic areas. This has enormous repercussions on delivery times and often leads to significant delays which can prove to be very problematic for transport companies.

2. Premature wear of vehicles

This is a point that has a tendency to be underemphasized, however, urban congestion creates many problems of wear for vehicles. It effectively forces drivers to use their brakes and engine more often because of the traffic. This has a direct impact on the deterioration of tires or mechanical parts, which suffer enormously when traffic is dense.

Congestion also has the indirect effect of increasing vehicle fuel consumption. Vehicles are constantly stopping and restarting according to the flow of traffic. In addition to having an impact on the environment, this creates a significant cost increase for businesses.

3. Increased costs for transport companies

The significant increase in costs generated from congestion makes it one of the major challenges facing the road transport industry.

In effect, the densification of traffic and the extension of delivery times force companies to invest more time and vehicles for the same number of deliveries. If a vehicle is no longer capable of making as many deliveries as it did in the past, it is clear that to maintain their performance, companies must deploy other vehicles to fill gaps.

This can also be applied to premature truck wear which results in higher repair costs, faster devaluation of vehicle prices and increased fuel costs.

Conclusion

As such, urban traffic congestion negatively affects road transport in Montreal, as well as other cities in the Country. Leading to increased costs, delays and negative impacts on the environment, urban transport also consequently slows the growth of transport companies.

However, this also opens the door to many logistical and technological improvements that will enable companies that are paying these issues attention to make a difference and stand out amongst the competition.

Don’t hesitate to contact us for any questions concerning road transport or home delivery, a member of our team will be happy to answer you!