The generators of paratransit trips by persons with disabilities

Identifying the generators of paratransit trips by persons with disabilities is important to comprehend the current demand patterns and forecast future demand. Only a handful of studies have been conducted so far to identify the generators of paratransit trips and most focused on the home end of the trips. Given some of the inconsistencies in past studies and the scarcity of studies on the generators of trips away from home, this study attempts to identify the generators of paratransit trips beginning and ending at clients’ homes and away from home. It uses an extremely large dataset consisting of 1.91 million trips made by NJ TRANSIT’s Access Link clients, socioeconomic data from the American Community Survey, employment data from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics, and establishment data from Dun and Bradstreet. The analytical methods include an ordinary least squares model (OLS) and several spatial generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) to identify the characteristics of census block groups associated with Access Link trip generation at home and away from home, Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis to identify the types of establishments located in the immediate vicinity of drop-offs, and a multinomial logit model (MNL) to examine the relationship between the characteristics of the establishments in the vicinity of drop-offs and the characteristics of the dropped-off clients. Together, the various analyses provide useful insights about paratransit trip generators at the macro and micro levels. Some implications of the findings are discussed.     

Using Focus and NomiNal Group Techniques for a Better Understanding of the Transit Disadvantaged Needs

The research presented in this paper explores the context, method, and value of focus group research in transit needs assessments. Group participatory research can generate data that are not easily obtained by other methods. The paper focuses on lessons from three Nebraska communities whose transit disadvantaged rely on community-based paratransit services. Because of the size of the paratransit population and the inability to control who showed up to the focus group sessions, a modified group research protocol was adopted in order to garner information from whomever attended the session. The population parameters and the number of people at the meetings were anticipated by the researchers and mitigated by incorporating nominal group techniques. Research findings from the focus group sessions are discussed paying particular attention to the candid and policy-specific comments made by the focus group participants. The paper concludes with an application of focus group research in transit planning.     

Scheduled paratransit transport systems

In this paper we focus on ways to provide individualized services to people with mobility challenges using existing modes of public transport. We study the design of an interesting case, in which a bus operating in a public transport route may diverge from its nominal path to pick-up passengers with limited mobility and drop them off at their destination. We have modeled the design problem by a mixed integer-linear program, and we developed an exact Branch and Price approach to solve it to optimality. The proposed approach includes a labeling algorithm in which we introduced appropriate dominance rules, which do not compromise optimality. We have compared the efficiency of our approach with that of related algorithms from the literature. Furthermore, we have used the proposed approach to study key aspects of the system design problem, such as the effect of various constraints on the service level, and the tuning of the system’s parameters to address different transport environments.     

The role of paratransit: some reflections based on the experience of residents’ coach services in Hong Kong

Paratransit refers to urban transport services “somewhere between private passenger transport and conventional public transport in terms of cost and quality of service” [Rimmer (1980), Paratransit: A commentary. Environ. Plan. A 12, 937–944]. Since the 1980s, a new form of paratransit—residents’ coach, which provides exclusive transport services to residents living in private housing estates—has emerged in Hong Kong. What was the background underlying the emergence and subsequent growth of residents’ coach services? Also, what was the role of residents’ coach in the public transport system of Hong Kong? With the completion of more railway extensions, should residents’ coach services be replaced? If so, what are the potential impacts on people’s life? This paper addresses the above research questions through a large-scale questionnaire survey that examined not only people’s modal choice but also their residential choice, socio-economic background and attitudes. The findings suggest that transport policy makers should pay more attention to examine new forms of paratransit and the ways of integrating them into the overall public transport system, both spatially and temporally. It is only through the development of an efficient and multi-modal transport system can the maximum potential of paratransit in filling the transport gap between conventional mass transit and private cars be realized.     

Engaging the paratransit sector in Cape Town on public transport reform: Progress,process and risks

The South African government in 2006 initiated an urban public transport reform programme reliant on the introduction of new bus rapid transit (BRT) systems. Affected paratransit operators can opt to be incorporated in these systems by forming new operating companies, but must withdraw their existing services from proposed routes. Cape Town's first phase of BRT operations came online in 2011, and operator engagement has focussed on this phase. The attitudes within this city's paratransit sector in relation to future phases, and to the broader reform policy, remain largely untested. In view of this sector's past resistance to government-led proposals, and the current phase avoiding areas with the highest concentrations of operators, the current engagement process's outcomes may not be adequate indicators of future prospects.     

Statistical and machine learning approach for planning dial-a-ride systems

Door-to-door transportation service for elderly and persons with disabilities is often called dial-a-ride (DAR), and is usually provided by transit agencies through private contractors. Growth in DAR ridership is reported across the United States and this tendency will likely continue due to aging population. Such trends encourage development of models that can provide decision support in planning new DAR systems or expanding existing ones. Several statistical models were previously developed to predict the required DAR system capacity, given various characteristics of the service region, level-of-service requirements and operator constraints. Our work contributes to this line of research by proposing statistical and machine learning approaches that provide more accurate predictions over a wider range of scenarios. This is accomplished through transformation of variables and application of generalized linear model and support vector regression. Proposed models are built into an online tool that can help transit planners and policy makers: (a) estimate the capacity and operating cost of a DAR system needed to provide the desired level of service, (b) explore tradeoffs between system costs and levels of service, and (c) compare the cost of providing DAR service with other transportation alternatives (e.g., taxi, conventional transit).     

Comparisons of urban transport sustainability: Lessons from West and North Africa

The diagnosis for urban transport sustainability depends on the context of different regions worldwide. We focus in this paper on West and North Africa which reveal similarities but also structural differences which are explored further. The importance of paratransit in its various forms is strongly observed in sub-Saharan Africa and to a lesser extent in North Africa. The attempts to regulate and organise this sector have been difficult; one interesting experience in Dakar occurred during a programme of fleet renewal. In parallel it is observed that there are positive but insufficient experiences of public transport authorities in some cities (Dakar, Abidjan) and similar projects postponed in other cities because of the institutional problems. One also observes the constant difficulties of designing sustainable schemes for bus companies. An answer to this crisis has been found in North Africa, through investment in new mass transport systems. However, mass transport projects in West Africa are very weak in comparison. The gap between public transport costs and income levels there remains a major obstacle to sustainable mobility exacerbated by the poverty of a significant part of the urban population in West Africa. Two other critical factors are also identified affecting sustainable mobility requirements, namely, the urban sprawl and increasing energy costs. Finally the conclusion recommends the use of research and expertise networks in order to help the design and the implementation of suited solutions.     

Workshop 3A: Governance,contracting, ownership and competition issues in public transport: Looking up not down

Workshop 3A focussed on matters of institutional design that seem likely to improve public transport outcomes. It started by defining high level outcome goals, as measures of ultimate public transport success, and then identified the major societal issues that public transport systems can help to resolve. These issues were separately defined for Southern African and western settings. The importance of taking an integrated approach to transport, particularly land use/transport integration, was seen as fundamental to goal achievement. Workshop papers provided many and varied examples of this importance, ranging from PPPs for major public transport projects to system design issues and contracting out of services. The Workshop included detailed discussion on paratransit development in Southern Africa, where relationship management is proving to be critical, in-line with much previous Thredbo discussion about the important role of trusting partnerships. Parallels and contrasts were drawn with paratransit in western settings. Competition in passenger rail was also a focus, with some questioning of the benefits of franchising. Discussion concluded by proposing recommendations for policy and research and suggesting agenda items for future Thredbo Conferences.