Computer-Aided Scheduling and Dispatch in Demand-Responsive Transit Services

Abstract

This synthesis will be of interest to transit practitioners, transportation professionals, and social service providers, as well as to private and nonprofit organizations providing demand-responsive transit (DRT) service. It explores the experiences of selected transit agencies, four contract service providers, and four software vendors, focusing on current practice, successful implementation of computer-aided scheduling and dispatch (CASD) systems, and impediments to success. The report summarizes the state-of-the-practice experiences of a selected group of transit agencies about the implementation and use of CASD systems employed to provide Americans with Disabilities Act and other DRT services. In addition, it identifies much of the past and ongoing research pertaining to the topic. This synthesis report includes a literature review, supplemented by survey responses from three types of sources (public transit agencies, software vendors, and private service carriers with contracts with transit agencies to operate DRT services). Case studies from two transit agencies (Charlotte Area Transit System and New Jersey Transit) that have recently implemented entirely new CASD systems are included.