Abstract
ABSTRACTRural areas generally have lower and more dispersed demands for travel which cannot sustain conventional public transport services and consequently have a greater number of flexible and demand responsive transport services operating. These services usually operate on a stand-alone basis, are often subsidized and are typically only accessible by certain passenger types or for specific trip purposes. This generally results in uncoordinated and inefficient transport provision overall. The Flexible integrated transport services (FITS) system featured in this paper has been designed to address this problem. FITS can be used as a planning tool to assess potential benefits from relaxing operating constraints (e.g., a service's operating boundaries), which can potentially suggest service redesign. It also includes the capacity to assign subsidy payments on a trip by trip basis to increase cost efficiency whilst meeting a greater proportion of transport needs. The case study in the paper focusses on transport to health in the Aberdeenshire and Morayshire areas of Scotland in the UK. Despite flexible transport operators receiving public funds to meet passenger needs, this is currently being supplemented by public bodies paying large amounts in taxi fares in instances where there is a statutory obligation to provide travel but where no other suitable transport service exists. The results demonstrate the potential substantial savings which could be realized by allowing transport operators to redesign their services by relaxing constraints and by the reassignment of subsidies: resulting in more passenger demands being met and a reduction in public spending on taxi fares.
Highlights
Flexible transport services (FTS) consist of a range of mobility services offering greater flexibility than regular public transport services
Whereas urban flexible transport includes shared taxis, car-pooling, and carsharing (Nelson & Wright, 2016) which attempt to offer a greener alternative to solo car use, in rural areas where there is limited conventional public transport, flexible transport providers often fill the gaps providing essential services. This is achieved through demand responsive transport (DRT) for the general public or more commonly through dedicated services
The flexible transport services in the case study area of Aberdeenshire and Morayshire, which is typical of rural areas across the UK and many developed countries worldwide, are highly subsidized and have strict eligibility criteria; this has resulted overall in an inefficient patchwork of transport provision
Summary
Flexible transport services (FTS) consist of a range of mobility services offering greater flexibility than regular public transport services. Whereas urban flexible transport includes shared taxis, car-pooling, and carsharing (Nelson & Wright, 2016) which attempt to offer a greener alternative to solo car use, in rural areas where there is limited conventional (fixed-route) public transport, flexible transport providers often fill the gaps providing essential services. This is achieved through demand responsive transport (DRT) for the general public or more commonly through dedicated services (i.e., transport for specific groups of the population, e.g., the elderly). In the UK many services are provided by community transport organizations, health sector funded organizations, or local authority departments involved in social care
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