Paratransit services and socio-economic planning: A review uncovering critical insights and developmental pathways

Paratransit services offer flexible on-demand transportation filling crucial mobility gaps otherwise unmet by conventional public transportation systems. A common problem witnessed in both the developed and developing worlds is the inadequate complementarity among paratransit and conventional transit for maximized urban mobility provisions. Particularly in the Global South, such an inadequacy stems from the negative portrayal of paratransit whereas in the Global North paratransit remains underutilized. At this juncture, paratransit emerges as an important transportation segment that requires an in-depth understanding of its grained agenda demanding development. Therefore, a multi-disciplinary article-set on paratransit is constructed by involving the scholarships of transportation sciences, logistics management, planning and public policy, legal sciences, and general management. Thereby, this vast spread of literature [294 articles (1970–2023)] is excavated from two perspectives: (i) developed versus developing world's viewpoint, and (ii) understanding socio-economic planning issues at the strategic, tactical, and operational levels. Resultantly, the agenda surrounding paratransit's development is outlined in layered themes. Three primary themes and thirteen subthemes granularize the strategic, tactical, and operational agenda of socio-economic planning in this regard. Furthermore, the review draws out diverse strategic pathways conceptualizing vital implications on how knowledge of paratransit can advance in the future.