# Solutions to the Problem of Freight Transport Flows in Urban Logistics
## 2 Materials and Methods
### Research Methodology  
After analyzing the examined studies and the proposed solutions for the optimization of cargo transport flows, it is clear that this is relevant today and will be relevant in the future. The problems of city logistics, which are related to transport, life in cities, and environmental protection, are solved at various levels, from the strategic level to the cooperation of municipal administrations and business entities. A survey of experts was conducted in the feasibility study to optimize cargo flows by road transport. An in-depth interview or other method can be an alternative to a survey, but a survey is more acceptable to both respondents and interviewers. This study aims to gain a deeper understanding of the studied phenomena and to determine the possibilities of optimizing freight transport and how these possibilities can be practically applied in real life. The survey was conducted according to a rated scale of questions [26]. Questions are present as statements or criteria and then ranked. In the survey, ten respondents were interviewed, who were logistics experts who have a university degree--at least a bachelor's degree--and at least 5 years of experience in the field of international cargo transportation and cargo distribution city logistics. Experts with an average logistics experience of almost 14 years were selected. The survey was conducted in May-June 2022. The respondents of the survey were experts in the Lithuanian logistics sector and heads of companies or company divisions. The survey was sent to respondents electronically via ref [27]. The apklausa.lt system was designed to create and conduct online surveys with unlimited quantities of questionnaires and questions and distribute it to respondents [28]. Answers to questionnaires are provided in a simple, understandable form. The results can be saved in a file that can be opened with popular office applications (OO Calc, MS Excel, or SPSS). After evaluating the provisions and recommendations of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods and concepts [29], the number of experts was determined. This number must be greater than the number of multiple-choice questions. In the case of our study, there were ten experts and the number of optional answers is eight, so it can be said that the number of experts was appropriate. During the research, selected experts were asked questions aimed at obtaining information on city logistics, environmental protection and environmental impact, freight traffic flows, traffic throughput, and infrastructure impact. At the same time, an attempt was made to obtain the prognostic information required for the study on possible optimization measures and solutions, possible financial aspects of the use of electricity or other ecological transport, and the use of information technologies. The data from the expert survey, expressed in numerical values, were analyzed and calculated for the reliability of the data. The processing of the data was aimed at obtaining generalized data to study the possibilities of optimizing the flow of freight transport in a city logistics system. Research data were processed using Kendall's concordance coefficient method of agreement [9] and the average rank transformation to weights (ARTIW) method [30; 31]. All expert assessments were ranked. [PERSON]'s coefficient of concordance was applied to calculate the survey results and determine the distribution and concordance of opinions. The values of the concordance coefficient (W) are in the range from 0 to 1. The higher the obtained value (W), the less the opinions differ and are aligned.