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Improving the efficiency of demand-responsive paratransit services

Author

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  • Gupta, Diwakar
  • Chen, Hao-Wei
  • Miller, Lisa A.
  • Surya, Fajarrani

Abstract

State agencies responsible for ADA-eligible paratransit services are increasingly under pressure to contain costs and maximize service quality. Many do not operate vehicles themselves; instead, they contract out the provision of services. Contractors are paid for each hour of service. They are responsible for hiring crew, forming routes, dispatching, and operating and maintaining agency-owned vehicles. In the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Metro Mobility, the agency responsible for providing paratransit services, requires contractors to use agency-approved software for booking trips dynamically and sets parameters that guide contractors' practices. Customer trips booked in this fashion may not utilize capacity in the most efficient manner. Therefore, beginning with the daily trip schedules generated by the software, this paper proposes two approaches for improving the efficiency of paratransit operations and estimates the benefit of using these approaches via experiments that utilize Metro Mobility data. The first approach re-optimizes routes developed at the end of each day. The second approach evaluates the benefit to state agencies of selectively using non-dedicated service providers such as taxis. Both approaches are tested on actual data obtained from Metro Mobility. The study shows that a conservative estimate of savings from re-optimization would be approximately 5% of Metro Mobility's operating costs. Savings from the use of taxis are smaller and in the range of hundreds of dollars per day.

Suggested Citation

  • Gupta, Diwakar & Chen, Hao-Wei & Miller, Lisa A. & Surya, Fajarrani, 2010. "Improving the efficiency of demand-responsive paratransit services," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 201-217, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:44:y:2010:i:4:p:201-217
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Aylin Kalpakcı & Neslihan Karataş Ünverdi, 2016. "Integration of paratransit systems with inner-city bus transport: the case of Izmir," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 405-426, December.
    2. Karlaftis, Matthew G. & Tsamboulas, Dimitrios, 2012. "Efficiency measurement in public transport: Are findings specification sensitive?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 392-402.
    3. Deka, Devajyoti & Gonzales, Eric J., 2014. "The generators of paratransit trips by persons with disabilities," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 181-193.
    4. Babak Mehran & Yongzhe Yang & Sushreeta Mishra, 2020. "Analytical models for comparing operational costs of regular bus and semi-flexible transit services," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 147-169, March.
    5. Abdul Waheed Siyal & Chen Hongzhuan & Chen Gang, 2021. "From Consumer Satisfaction to Recommendation of Mobile App–Based Services: An Overview of Mobile Taxi Booking Apps," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440211, March.
    6. Deka, Devajyoti, 2014. "An exploration of the environmental and rider characteristics associated with disability paratransit trip delay," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 75-87.

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