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This study, undertaken in 2004–2005, explores light to medium commercial vehicle trip patterns in urban areas. We selected four case study corridors: two in the heart of the central business district of a major city (Queen Street, Auckland, and Lambton Quay, Wellington) and two in the main business area of a secondary city (central Takapuna, North Shore City and Central Lower Hutt).

We conducted face-to-face interviews with key informants from organisations located within each corridor. Approximately 50 such organisations were interviewed. Given the extensive use of couriers in all four corridors, we also interviewed one non-urgent and one urgent courier company operating in Wellington region.

The project had four main purposes:

• to qualitatively clarify the nature, as well as the driving factors (eg consumer preference, inventory requirements) of urban-based light and medium commercial vehicle movements
• to categorise the types of movements and usage of transport services by organisational purpose (ie goods versus services, perishables versus non-perishables, etc) to the extent feasible within a case study approach
• to comment on the impact different policy tools might have on such movements, based on key informant interview
• to discuss the implications for modelling such movements (eg for forecasting).

Keywords: Auckland, CBD, commercial vehicles, couriers, light /medium commercial vehicles, Lower Hutt, movement, New Zealand, Takapuna, transport corridor, transport modelling, trip, urban areas, visit, Wellington