Demand-responsive transport for students in rural areas: A case study in Vulkaneifel, Germany

Chengqi Lu, Michal Maciejewski, Hao Wu and Kai Nagel

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2023, vol. 178, issue C

Abstract: In rural areas with low population density, demand-responsive transport (DRT) is considered a promising alternative to conventional public transport (PT). With a fleet of smaller vehicles, DRT provides a much more flexible and convenient service. This characteristic makes DRT also a potential mode of transport to serve students in rural areas. If DRT vehicles are used to serve students, then the funding for conventional school buses (or adapted public transport schedules) can be reinvested in the DRT system. This may help to relieve the financial burden experienced by DRT operators and enable the operation of a large-scale DRT service in rural areas. In this study, a demand model for school commutes based on real-world, open-source data for Landkreis Vulkaneifel, a rural region in Germany, is built. Then a feasibility study is carried out using an agent-based transport simulation framework. In the feasibility study, various setups and operational schemes are explored, which are followed by a systematic cost analysis. Based on a conservative estimation, an annual budget of around 1600 Euro per student will be needed to maintain and operate a fleet of DRT vehicles that can transport all the students in the region from home to school on time in the morning. During the remaining time of the day and on school holidays, the vehicles can be used for conventional DRT service for the public.

Keywords: Demand-responsive transport (DRT); School transport; Mobility service in rural area; Vehicle routing problem (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856423002574
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:transa:v:178:y:2023:i:c:s0965856423002574

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2023.103837

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice is currently edited by John (J.M.) Rose

More articles in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().