Arrange subscription based service or reinstate Jakeluauto facility around city center of Oulu/Parking issue for Foodora and Wolt delivery personnel around city of Oulu
An Open Letter to Oulu City Council, Restaurants with delivery services with Wolt and Foodora, Media Houses, Oulu parking and traffic management department and General public Oulu region.
Warm greetings to all!
We, the food delivery personnel of both Wolt and Foodora, are writing this letter about the ongoing parking issues in Oulu. This issue comes from removing "van parking spaces" and Converting them to only Vans and Trucks parking in the city center, While no alternative solution (s) are in arrangements.
As we all know, over 90% of the restaurants whose businesses are also dependent on deliveries are in the city center. Some of the restaurants are heavily dependent on food-delivery services for their business (s).
Similarly, the earnings of livelihood of the food delivery personnel are also dependent on the number of deliveries one can make. On average, one delivery person needs to complete 30-40 deliveries daily to generate sustainable income to support livelihood.
This letter comes as a request to Restore the "delivery parking spaces" in the city center and have some subscription-based parking provisions for the delivery personnel. For the execution of our job, the delivery mobile application requires us to be within the Proximity of the restaurants, from where the application distributes the delivery, ie, Food pickup and drop-off accordingly. Additionally, delivery personnel are required to deliver home utensils, pet food, and machinery that fits in a passenger car. These delivery products are heavy and usually weigh between 28-50 kilograms. Hence, while we are delivering the foods / packages to the doorstep of customers like Postal services "Posti," we are also required to wait and receive orders as Taxis do. Due to these reasons, the "van parking spaces" spots were already less than the actual requirement. Therefore the requests to increase the number of vending places were already in place; instead, the opposite decision came into enforcement to remove the existing ones.
We reckon there are several advantages for the city of Oulu to arrange adequate parking spaces for delivery personnels' cars. First of all, the income generation for restaurants and stores. Their ability to sell their products in increasing numbers due to delivery services is well beyond the place's occupant capacity. While the companies would not need to add to their expenses to deliver themselves, their improved income due to delivery services generation would subsequently increase in VAT & tax payment to the city of Oulu. This increase in orders for companies also means improving the job market and more opportunities for the local people for new employment.
Similarly, due to the current enforcement of the new parking rule, it is increasingly difficult for delivery personnel to operate. It is resulting in a low-income generation and high expenses. It is a well-known fact to everyone that the costs of a vehicle, vehicle maintenance, and fuel expenses need to be covered by delivery personnel. This scenario is increasingly creating a situation for everyone to quit working. Our earnings have generated a large amount of income tax and VAT for the city of Oulu. Instead, now we are on the verge of depending on unemployment support such as KELA.
On the customer front, delivery services are facilitating their daily schedule. There are plenty of examples, such as a caretaking parent in the home, professionals working from home primarily due to COVID-19, an older adult, or a person with a disability; delivery services have made everyone's life a step easier. However, it is also essential to understand the traffic conjunction and environmental factors. For example, one delivery person can pick up 3/4 different orders (at times even higher) from the city center. While in the scenario where every customer needs to drive to pick up their order as a take-away, this will only increase the city traffic conjunctions. It is also evident in Oulu that there are already a limited number of parking spaces for regular personal cars. Therefore,
We are Thankful for the opportunity to work and provide the services in the city of Oulu. We request that we have similar facilitation as Posti and Taxi vehicles. Our services are even broader, where we need to park our cars in various delivery addresses and diverse pickup locations.
We are not unknown to the Reasoning of the new enforcement as a result of traffic violations by some delivery vehicles. While we often try to correct such behavior as a "group of delivery services" by requesting those individuals, the entire delivery group cannot take responsibility for individual actions. Unfortunately, traffic rules are violated even by the general public and regular personal cars. Therefore, we humbly request to take steps on a case-by-case basis and not affect everyone's right to work, earnings, and livelihood due to some individual's wrong actions.
We are committed to work and provide our services in Oulu, harmonizing with the parking facilities and guidelines given by the respective authorities.
Thank you for the help!
Best Regards,
Wolt & Foodora Delivery personnel.
All Wolt and Foodora worker from Oulu Ota yhteyttä adressin tekijään