Evaluating demand responsive transit services using a density-based trip rate metric

Demand responsive transit (DRT) is attracting increased attention as a means to provide public transit to low-density populations. This research aims to provide a suite of evaluation metrics with low data requirement and widespread availability, so that operators, funders, regulators, and practition...

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Main Authors: Benjamin Kaufman, Abraham Leung, Matthew Burke
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing 2021-04-01
Series:Journal of Transport and Land Use
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.jtlu.org/index.php/jtlu/article/view/1796
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author Benjamin Kaufman
Abraham Leung
Matthew Burke
author_facet Benjamin Kaufman
Abraham Leung
Matthew Burke
author_sort Benjamin Kaufman
collection DOAJ
description Demand responsive transit (DRT) is attracting increased attention as a means to provide public transit to low-density populations. This research aims to provide a suite of evaluation metrics with low data requirement and widespread availability, so that operators, funders, regulators, and practitioners can better evaluate the performance of DRT services. Trip numbers can be divided by a number of available variables (period, trip length, population, and density) to create a number of derived metrics. By applying these variables across three different DRT service areas in Logan City, Australia, where other key factors are held constant, one can see how different formulations lead to very different readings of DRT system performance. The results confirm the dilemma of cost efficiency versus equity in service provision in low-density environments. This paper also highlights current data limitations and calls for better data collection to facilitate the development of new evaluation methods for DRT services and a new composite metric that can be used for inter-service comparison.
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spelling doaj-art-fb7b51b7bcee4e56bed9c171f46258062025-08-20T03:09:59ZengUniversity of Minnesota Libraries PublishingJournal of Transport and Land Use1938-78492021-04-0114110.5198/jtlu.2021.1796Evaluating demand responsive transit services using a density-based trip rate metricBenjamin Kaufman0Abraham Leung1Matthew Burke2Griffith UniversityGriffith UniversityGriffith UniversityDemand responsive transit (DRT) is attracting increased attention as a means to provide public transit to low-density populations. This research aims to provide a suite of evaluation metrics with low data requirement and widespread availability, so that operators, funders, regulators, and practitioners can better evaluate the performance of DRT services. Trip numbers can be divided by a number of available variables (period, trip length, population, and density) to create a number of derived metrics. By applying these variables across three different DRT service areas in Logan City, Australia, where other key factors are held constant, one can see how different formulations lead to very different readings of DRT system performance. The results confirm the dilemma of cost efficiency versus equity in service provision in low-density environments. This paper also highlights current data limitations and calls for better data collection to facilitate the development of new evaluation methods for DRT services and a new composite metric that can be used for inter-service comparison.https://www.jtlu.org/index.php/jtlu/article/view/1796demand responsive transiton-demand transitdrtsocial equitytransport equitydial-a-ride
spellingShingle Benjamin Kaufman
Abraham Leung
Matthew Burke
Evaluating demand responsive transit services using a density-based trip rate metric
Journal of Transport and Land Use
demand responsive transit
on-demand transit
drt
social equity
transport equity
dial-a-ride
title Evaluating demand responsive transit services using a density-based trip rate metric
title_full Evaluating demand responsive transit services using a density-based trip rate metric
title_fullStr Evaluating demand responsive transit services using a density-based trip rate metric
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating demand responsive transit services using a density-based trip rate metric
title_short Evaluating demand responsive transit services using a density-based trip rate metric
title_sort evaluating demand responsive transit services using a density based trip rate metric
topic demand responsive transit
on-demand transit
drt
social equity
transport equity
dial-a-ride
url https://www.jtlu.org/index.php/jtlu/article/view/1796
work_keys_str_mv AT benjaminkaufman evaluatingdemandresponsivetransitservicesusingadensitybasedtripratemetric
AT abrahamleung evaluatingdemandresponsivetransitservicesusingadensitybasedtripratemetric
AT matthewburke evaluatingdemandresponsivetransitservicesusingadensitybasedtripratemetric