خدمات حمل و نقل قابل انعطاف : یک فرصت بازار جدید برای حمل و نقل عمومی

The term Demand-Responsive Transport (DRT) has been increasingly applied in the last 10 years to a niche market that replaces or feeds (usually via small low floor buses or taxis) conventional transport where demand is low and often spread over a large area. More recently, the concept of DRT as a niche market has been broadened to include a wider range of flexible, demand-responsive transport services and is increasingly referred to as Flexible Transport Services (FTSs). The contention of this paper is that well-implemented FTS has the potential to revitalise bus-based public transport services which are traditionally based on fixed networks with variable geographical coverage and levels of service.

In an ideal world public transport would be as convenient as private transport, suggesting that ‘all public transport should be demand responsive.’ The term Demand-Responsive Transport (DRT) has been increasingly applied in the last 10 years to a niche market that replaces or feeds (usually via small low floor buses or taxis) conventional transport where demand is low and often spread over a large area. More recently, the concept of DRT as a niche market has been broadened to include a wider range of flexible, demand-responsive transport services and is increasingly referred to as flexible transport services (FTSs). The contention of this paper is that well-implemented FTS has the potential to revitalise bus-based public transport services which are traditionally based on fixed networks with variable geographical coverage and levels of service. Historically, DRT evolved from door-to-door dial-a-ride services (sometimes referred to as Special Transport Services – STSs) provided by statutory authorities and community groups for restricted usage (usually the disabled and elderly). Interested users would telephone in their requests some days before they intended to travel and the operator would plan the service manually the day before the trip. These traditional services have often been criticised because of their relatively high cost of provision, their lack of flexibility in route planning and their inability to manage high demand. As already noted many of the earlier limitations have subsequently been overcome through the introduction of transport telematics/Intelligent Transport Systems (ITSs) and the development of a much broader definition of flexible transport services (FTSs) which is discussed below. In Gothenburg, for example, as long ago as 1992 the city invested in PLANET, an advanced DRT system for Special Transport Services (STSs), and a fleet of shared-ride taxis and specially equipped vans. Telematics-based FTSs have the scope to bring public transport closer to the flexibility and convenience of private transport, whilst retaining a fare structure more in line with public transport journeys as opposed to the most flexible – but costly – private hire and taxis. This paper is organised as follows: Section 2 considers the current state-of-the-art in FTS noting in particular the role of transport telematics in enhancing the potential capability of flexibly organised and delivered public transport services. Sections 3 and 4 focus on the challenge of providing public transport in rural areas and focus in this context on the use of taxi-based services which are widely recognised as one of the most effective forms of DRT.2 Whilst the context in this paper is on the provision of flexibly delivered services as part of the public transport mix in rural areas, the discussion is equally applicable to areas of low demand that exist within urban and peri-urban areas whether this is at the urban fringe or within areas where for socio-demographic reasons there is insufficient demand to make a conventional, fixed route, viable or suitable for subsidy. The discussion highlights a number of questions that are important to the further development of FTS; the development of a research agenda is discussed in Section 5.