Equity and Accessibility in Last-Mile Crowdshipping Delivery

Abstract

This thesis explores sociotechnical innovations to improve equity, efficiency, and resilience in food rescue logistics last mile. Through qualitative inquiry and design science research, Chapter 2 introduces and pilots CrowdFeeding, a digital platform that enables direct donation to food delivery to clients. It presents a two-phase study conducted with 45 stakeholders throughout Canada. In the first phase, semi-structured interviews were used to identify key barriers. The second phase reports on a pilot study in Hamilton, Ontario, where a digital platform, CrowdFeeding, comprising a website and a mobile application was designed, developed and implemented to allow direct donor-to-client food delivery and address operational inefficiencies within food banks. Building on these insights, Chapter 3 introduces a three-sided market equilibrium model. It is developed to integrate volunteer deliveries into ridesharing platforms, demonstrating gains in driver earnings, platform profits, and environmental impact. The model incorporates regulatory constraints and behavioural tipping dynamics. Simulations using Manhattan-based data demonstrate reductions in food waste and CO_2 emissions, a 33% increase in driver earnings and a 10% increase in platform profits. Chapter 4 presents a unified optimization framework to strategize food bank operations that addresses donation procurement, purchasing produce, and equitable distribution of food. Numerical simulation showcase that the proposed policies improve efficiency, reduce costs, and reduce nutritional deprivation, outperforming heuristic approaches in most scenarios. The proposed model reduces procurement expenses by up to 40%, while an equity model cuts average deprivation by more than 50%. Finally, Chapter 5 offers future directions for scalable, data-driven and health-aligned food assistance systems. Collectively, this thesis offers a comprehensive, interdisciplinary foundation for reimagining non-profit food rescue system through digital innovation, participatory design, and operational rigour.