Opinion of Residents about the Freight Transport and Its Influence on the Quality of Life: An Analysis for Brasília (Brazil)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript sent to me for review is truly scientific. It has all the elements that a model scientific article should have. Developed hypotheses, which were established based on a literature review (the selection of sources was made with the greatest care). Description of the methodology in point, the tools used are appropriate. Balanced conclusions. The structure of the article is logical, coherent, and justified.

The authors describe everything clearly, they did not miss the details of statistical and econometric techniques. They know what the appropriate techniques are used for and in what context, they know the nuances.

As a reviewer, I was looking for an area that could be considered a shortcoming, but I cannot confidently find a weak point in this manuscript.

Perhaps only my small suggestion is to enrich the article with gamma correlation (although it is optional). I missed the information about the proportion of the studied sample in the population.

I encourage the authors to become interested in the DEMATEL methodology in the future and to try to extend their research in this context for the needs of new works.

Author Response

Reviewer 1

Thank you for reviewing our manuscript. Your comments have enabled us to make an improved version of our work. The amended document accompanies this response; see the red parts in the paper, please.

Below we detailed how we addressed your suggestions:

1. The manuscript sent to me for review is truly scientific. It has all the elements that a model scientific article should have. Developed hypotheses, which were established based on a literature review (the selection of sources was made with the greatest care). Description of the methodology in point, the tools used are appropriate. Balanced conclusions. The structure of the article is logical, coherent, and justified. The authors describe everything clearly, they did not miss the details of statistical and econometric techniques. They know what the appropriate techniques are used for and in what context, they know the nuances.

We are glad you appreciate our manuscript. Thank you.

2. As a reviewer, I was looking for an area that could be considered a shortcoming, but I cannot confidently find a weak point in this manuscript.

We are glad you appreciate our manuscript. Thank you

3. Perhaps only my small suggestion is to enrich the article with gamma correlation (although it is optional).

We appreciated your suggestion to use the gamma correlation. However, by using a composite model, we can not user the gamma correlation without changing the assumptions of the measurement model. Ho but it is a good suggestion for future research in the view of the model via factors.

4. I missed the information about the proportion of the studied sample in the population.

Regarding the proportion of the sample studied (171-175), a total of 160 respondents would be sufficient and the survey received 458 responses (260-262), which exceeds the minimum necessary.

5. I encourage the authors to become interested in the DEMATEL methodology in the future and to try to extend their research in this context for the needs of new works.

We appreciated your suggestion to use DEMATEL methodology in further works and included it in the conclusion section.

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper presents how the structure of the city has influenced or changed the availability of freight transport.
But the Authors didn't of the real field research in this city, but the paper is based on the information about numbers of residents,  lines 244-250. They propose models, but without information about how much cargo has been transported in the whole city and for some part of the city. We see the structure of the city in Figure 3, but where are the "corridors" of the urban freight transport? To prepare Figure 4, I expect the numbers volumes of cargo for shops where residents bought things.

For preparing Figure 4, I would see a map of noises in this city and traffic jams.
In this time will be possible to calculate the factors on quality of life. I suggest correcting figure 4. The columns are mixed. The lines of the table can help to read this figure. I propose to change it for a table, with very thin vertical and horizontal lines.

I prefer field research on the problem of urban traffic.
Here aren't them. Here it presents the opinion of over 400 respondents of residents, but how many delivery drivers or managers?

I suggest extending about field research of urban freight.

If Authors want to have the same form of paper, I suggest changing the title for Opinions of residents about the quality of life: an analysis for Brasília (Brazil)

Here aren't field researchers about the volume of freight traffic.   Factors on the quality of life of residents may be based on their opinion. But the description of freight traffic is based only on the field research, frequency of delivery, volume of cargo, the total for the city, or some part of the city, clock time of delivery, time of realization of a single delivery. Here aren't them.

Author Response

Reviewer 2

Thank you for reviewing our manuscript. Your comments have enabled us to make an improved version of our work. The amended document accompanies this response; see the red parts in the paper, please.

Below we detailed how we addressed your suggestions:

1. This paper presents how the structure of the city has influenced or changed the availability of freight transport. But the Authors didn't of the real field research in this city, but the paper is based on the information about numbers of residents, lines 244-250.

We appreciated your comment. In reality, our paper assesses how the urban infrastructure and UFT externalities influence the residents’ quality of life. The analysis is based in a web-based survey was conducted with residents of Brasília, Brazil. Structural Equation Modelling with Partial Least Squares was used to analyze the data.

2. They propose models, but without information about how much cargo has been transported in the whole city and for some part of the city.

We appreciated your comment. However, we have no proposed mode. We estimated the coefficients of a Structural Equation model.

3. We see the structure of the city in Figure 3, but where are the "corridors" of the urban freight transport?

The survey was based on the literature. Brasilia has no freight transport corridors. However, as cited in the literature, freight corridors is one measure that could improve the quality of life. Thus, this measure was considered in the survey.

4. To prepare Figure 4, I expect the numbers volumes of cargo for shops where residents bought things. For preparing Figure 4, I would see a map of noises in this city and traffic jams.

Thank you for this comment. We have not included this information because data about noise and congestion is not available to include in Figure 4.  Same about freight data. We have no urban freight data available.

5. In this time will be possible to calculate the factors on quality of life. I suggest correcting figure 4. The columns are mixed. The lines of the table can help to read this figure. I propose to change it for a table, with very thin vertical and horizontal lines.

Thank you for this comment. We have improved the quality of Figure 4 and kept the information as a Figure. However, Figure 4 presents the opinion of respondents about the importance of those element for the quality of life.

6. I prefer field research on the problem of urban traffic.

We appreciated this suggestion. Since the focus of the paper was on the opinion of the respondents, we have included your suggestion for further works. Unfortunately, we have no data available to proceed this analysis. Besides, this analysis requires new research questions.

7. Here aren't them. Here it presents the opinion of over 400 respondents of residents, but how many delivery drivers or managers?

We appreciated your suggestion. As we informed, this paper focus on the opinion of respondents.

8. I suggest extending about field research of urban freight.

We appreciated this suggestion. Since the focus of the paper was on the opinion of the respondents, we have included your suggestion for further works.

9. If Authors want to have the same form of paper, I suggest changing the title for Opinions of residents about the quality of life: an analysis for Brasília (Brazil)

We appreciated this suggestion and have change the title of the paper.

10. Here aren't field researchers about the volume of freight traffic. Factors on the quality of life of residents may be based on their opinion. But the description of freight traffic is based only on the field research, frequency of delivery, volume of cargo, the total for the city, or some part of the city, clock time of delivery, time of realization of a single delivery. Here aren't them.

We appreciated this suggestion. Since the focus of the paper was on the opinion of the respondents, we have included your suggestion for further works (lines 330-332).

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Please read the detailed report

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Reviewer 3

Thank you for reviewing our manuscript. Your comments have enabled us to make an improved version of our work. The amended document accompanies this response; see the red parts in the paper, please.

Below we detailed how we addressed your suggestions:

1. The paper concerns a relevant issue related to Urban Freight Transport. The paper is interesting but the current version presents some limits in relation to literature review. I suggest some broad and specific comments to improve the quality and readability

We are glad you appreciate our manuscript. Thank you.

2. The UFT is a topic studied at global level in relation to its implications in urban sustainability. The current version partially considers these implications. For instance, according to European concept of smart city, it is important to consider three pillars: energy, sustainable transport and ICT. UFT plays a relevant role in a smart city because it is important to reach a convergence among theories, rules and practice in order to increase the level of acceptability of measures for regulating freight transport. One of the main problems is related to the potential increase of travel times; see for instance
   • Russo, F. and Comi, A. (2021). Sustainable Urban Delivery: The Learning Process of Path Costs Enhanced by Information and Communication Technologies. Sustainability 2021, 13, 13103. DOI: 10.3390/su132313103

We appreciated your comment and included the suggested paper. See lines 52-53.

3. Nevertheless, the increase of efficiency not converge with urban environmental sustainability, also in relation to the selection of vehicles; see for instance
   • Russo, F. and Comi, A. (2020). Investigating the Effects of City Logistics Measures on the Economy of the City. Sustainability 2020, 12(4), 1439, DOI: 10.3390/su12041439.

We appreciated your comment and included the suggested paper. See lines 53-55

4. Another problem is related to the parking policies with inadequate availability of loading/unloading areas; see for instance

- Comi, A., Buttarazzi, B. and Schiraldi, M. (2018). Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 88. DOI: 10.1016/j.simpat.2018.08.006, Elsevier Ltd, pp. 48-61.

We appreciated your comment and included the suggested paper. See lines [76,77]

5. It is important to underline the potentialities deriving from the use of ICT tools (e.g. FCD) see for instance:

Croce, er al. (2020). Route and path choices of freight vehicles: A case study with floating car data. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(20), 1-15. doi:10.3390/su12208557

We appreciated your comment and included the suggested paper. See lines 77-79

6. Moreover, it is important to underline the recent changes of people’s travel choices; for instance residents choose more sustainable transport mode

Musolino, et al (2019). Passengers and freight mobility with electric vehicles: A methodology to plan green transport and logistic services near port areas. Paper presented at the Transportation Research Procedia, , 37 393-400. doi:10.1016/j.trpro.2018.12.208 Retrieved from www.scopus.com

We appreciated your comment and included the suggested paper. See lines 85-86

7. Finally I suggest
   • To compare the obtained results with results deriving from literature. Which are the differences? Which are the convergence? Which is the contribution of the research?

We appreciated your comment and included the suggested paper. See lines 289-296.

• to extend the conclusions. The current version does not report lesson learnt and future developments

We appreciated your comment and included the suggested paper. See lines 329-332

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

The new version increases the paper's quality.

This version can be published