Abstract
In rural areas with low demand, demand responsive transport (DRT) can provide an alternative to the regular public transport bus lines, which are expensive to operate in such conditions. With simulation, we explore the potential effects of introducing a DRT service that replaces existing bus lines in Lolland municipality in Denmark, assuming that the existing demand remains unchanged. We set up the DRT service in such a way that its service quality (in terms of waiting time and in-vehicle time) is comparable to the replaced buses. The results show that a DRT service can be more cost efficient than regular buses and can produce significantly less CO2 emissions when the demand level is low. Additionally, we analyse the demand density at which regular buses become more cost efficient and explore how the target service quality of a DRT service can affect operational characteristics. Overall, we argue that DRT could be a more sustainable mode of public transport in low demand areas.
Highlights
Rural areas often suffer from poor public transport (PT) service quality as the costs of sustaining a good service frequency and area coverage become high due to the low demand density
Our results show that Demand responsive transport (DRT) can be more cost efficient and can produce less CO2 emissions than regular
We examined operational characteristics (VKT, number of vehicles, operational cost, and emissions) and traveller experience for buses and DRT
Summary
Rural areas often suffer from poor public transport (PT) service quality as the costs of sustaining a good service frequency and area coverage become high due to the low demand density. Demand responsive transport (DRT) is one of the proposed solutions to provide a cost-effective PT service [1]. Research shows that such expectations are often not met: many of the existing DRT attempts were not financially sustainable [2,3]. The environmental benefits of PT (compared to private cars) are well known [4]; in rural areas, DRT services have the potential to reduce CO2 emissions (compared to buses) [5]. DRT has the potential to improve the environmental and social sides of PT; the economic effects are less certain. In this study, based on real-world data, we examine a DRT service in a rural area mainly from economic and environmental perspectives
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