Potential Benefits of Demand Responsive Transport in Rural Areas: A Simulation Study in Lolland, Denmark

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.

Identifying Different Sources of the Benefit: Simulation of DRT Operation in the Heartland and Hinterland Regions

“…It is therefore highly important to introduce the appropriate number of DRT vehicles. The authors of [22] report that, depending on the service operation range, a DRT vehicle serves 4 passengers per hour, whereas a bus vehicle serves 12 passengers per hour. The analysis confirmed that 28.6 DRT vehicles are required to handle 1020 calls, which amounts to 36 calls per vehicle.…”

“…The existing literature on DRT has mostly been limited to the 'network DRT' type [6,8,[20][21][22], in which simulation studies are performed to examine the potential effect of door-to-door DRT service in replacing the existing bus operation in rural as well as interurban areas with low revenue. The results show that DRT operation outperforms existing transit in areas with low population density and low transit demand.…”

“…The results show that DRT operation outperforms existing transit in areas with low population density and low transit demand. DRT operation provides better performance under the demand of 40 to 60 (passengers) per vehicle [2,8,22].…”

“…However, as demand increases, performance decreases [2,7,22], and DRT is frequently provided to meet social welfare policies rather than profit maximization. Nevertheless, in addition to the 'network DRT', there are other types of regions with varied demand sizes and regional characteristics; the appropriate type of DRT operation should thus be selected so that the best service can be provided to the corresponding regions.…”

Introduction of emerging mobility services in rural areas through the use of mobile network data combined with activity‐based travel demand modelling

“…Research on rural and urban periphery, where demand for travel appears to be lower, showed that larger vehicles of 8/10 seats are required to satisfy demand [7] and DRT service can be more cost efficient than regular buses, by also achieving a CO 2 emissions reduction [8]. This is largely due to the characteristics of the area and the pre‐existing demand [37].…”