Demand-Responsive Transit, Evaluation Studies of

A demand-responsive transit (DRT) system is a means of transportation for the public that is known by its flexible routing and scheduling. Having the availability of this type of transportation system has been especially beneficial for that segment of society with limited access to conventional public transportation. According to the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP), there are about 1,500 rural and 400 urban DRT systems in the United States.

The definition of DRT has been continuously developed throughout the years. It is generally characterized by its flexible routing and shared rides, and the Federal Transit Administration defines it as a “transit mode comprised of passenger cars, vans or small buses operating in response to calls from passengers.” DRT has been identified with other terms such as dial-a-ride, flexible transport service, and demand-responsive service. With DRT having a large range of definitions, it confirms that not all providers of DRT systems are identical. DRT serves a variety of riders and is not focused on any specific type of rider.

Fixed-route transit (FRT) and DRT systems are the two broad categories in transit systems. The most cost-effective are the FRT systems having a large loading capacity and a predetermined schedule. In comparison with fixed-route services, the DRT still has low productivity and high per-trip costs. The flexibility of the DRT system is what makes it more appealing than FRT. The movement of individuals from inner cities to the suburbs has created less demand for the fixed-route transit options and also increased the price per rider. Therefore, in the less dense areas the DRT system can be more cost-efficient by having dispersed trip destinations.

Since the 1960s, DRT systems have been proposed, although it was not until the 1970s that the simple DRT systems were implemented in the United States. During this time, the manual dispatching system in use was expensive and excessive. Since then, there has been an incredible increase in the use of DRT systems. A large increase in 1990 was due to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which required the availability of “paratransit” services for individuals unable to use the fixed-route services. Many of the riders who currently use DRT are in rural areas with limited access to a privately owned vehicle.

Based on a Government Accountability Office survey, since 2007 the demand for ADA paratransit trips in the United States increased for some transit agencies, and costs for providing the trips remained high. The average number of annual ADA paratransit [Page 422]trips provided by a transit agency increased 7 percent from 2007 to 2010; from 172,481 trips in 2007 to 184,856 trips in 2010. Increases in demand for ADA paratransit services were driven by the 10 largest transit agencies, measured according to the population size of their service areas. Also, ADA paratransit trips are much more costly to provide than fixed-route trips. Similarly, the average cost of providing an ADA paratransit trip in 2010 was $29.30, an estimated three and a half times more expensive than the average cost of $8.15 to provide a fixed-route trip. The average cost of providing an ADA paratransit trip increased 10 percent from 2007 to 2010.

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