Those four words make my heart sing, my jaw unclench and the world feel like a more forgiving place: “You still have options.” That the only time I receive them is via text from the parcel delivery and logistics company DPD, checking in to see whether I’ll be home to collect that replacement vacuum cleaner filter I ordered yesterday, is context I choose to ignore.
If nothing else, it reminds me of a scene from Notting Hill. You know the one, when Julia Roberts’s movie star character goes up to Hugh Grant’s everyman1 bookseller and, with just the right ratio of tears to smile, urges him not to forget that she’s just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.
Except, not that scene but the one straight after. When our Hugh retells the story to his dumbfounded friends in the hope that, spoiler alert, they support his decision to spurn her advances:
Bernie: But she said she wanted to go out with you?
William: Yes — sort of...
Bernie: That’s nice.
William: What?
Bernie: Well, you know, anybody saying they want to go out with you is... pretty great... isn’t it...?
Being told you still have options is pretty darn great. Except, of course, it can come with several fairly obvious drawbacks.
Baby you can drive my light goods vehicle
When was the last time you took a bus in central London and didn’t instantly regret it? Recent figures provided by the Confederation of Passenger Transport suggest that the capital’s buses travel at an average speed of 7.1mph, or a decent jogging pace. Little wonder that bus ridership in the city is enduring a slow decline.2
Not all of that is a result of congestion caused by delivery vehicles, of course. Roadworks, 20mph speed limits, low-traffic neighbourhoods and the expansion of cycle lanes have also been blamed.3 But last-mile delivery plays an increasingly important role because of its sheer growth. Total measured parcel volumes rose by 7.1% to 4.2 billion items in 2024-25, and are up a third on 2017, according to Ofcom4. Inevitably, this impacts the roads.
Between 2010 and 2019, miles travelled by vans and other light goods vehicles rose by 68%.5 Freight, especially road freight, is critical to any major city’s economy. But the congestion it creates (it accounts for roughly a third of London’s morning traffic peak) negatively impacts on carbon emissions, air quality and road danger in the capital. And Transport for London expects continued growth.
So, what is to be done?
It’s a sin (tax)
One option is good old-fashioned price signals.