Flexible Transport Services: Overcoming Barriers to Implementation in Low-Density Urban Areas

Abstract

Flexible transport services include a range of passenger transport mobility offers, where services are flexible in one or more of the dimensions of route, vehicle allocation, vehicle operator, type of payment and passenger category. Although flexible transport services are used increasingly in Europe and the USA as part of the public transport mix where regular services are not sustainable, there are few working examples of these services in urban Australia, although there are many opportunities. Through a series of semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in New South Wales, Australia, the article identifies barriers to greater use of flexible transport services in low-density urban areas. These five sets of barriers include: institutional frameworks such as regulation; economic issues of funding and cost; operational issues such as fleet and vehicles; operator and community attitudes, awareness and cultures; and information and education. The article makes recommendations to enable and encourage greater use of flexible transport services by transport service planners and providers as part of the public transport mix in low-density urban environments where it can be more difficult to provide regular and scheduled public transport.

Factors Preventing the Use of Alternative Transport Modes to the Car in Later Life

“…The presence of more than one scheme or provision with different modes was also a factor increasing lack of awareness. Other examples include difficulties in understanding the concept of sharing any transport mode apart from buses (e.g., shared taxis) [65], or that FTS operate as conventional taxis due to the availability of booking services [110]. Furthermore, the high level of flexibility offered can lead to identification problems, since the more flexible the service is, the less visible it becomes to potential users.…”

“…Ahern and Hine [41] found that community transport in Irish rural areas was recognized as a "feminized" transport mode by male participants and therefore not used to meet their transport needs. While mainstream fixed-route public transport is regarded as normal, FTS can be perceived as a specialized service for impaired or generally disadvantaged people [65,83]. Glasgow and Blakely [18] found that the "young-older" (60-74 years old) reported low consideration of FTS due to the stigma associated with using these transport modes, while Kim [111] found a correlation between modal choice preference and age, with the older cohorts reporting more usage of FTS.…”

“…Glasgow and Blakely [18] found that the "young-older" (60-74 years old) reported low consideration of FTS due to the stigma associated with using these transport modes, while Kim [111] found a correlation between modal choice preference and age, with the older cohorts reporting more usage of FTS. Modifications to travel habits take time to build both patronage and acknowledgement of the service, therefore, customer attitudes are also affected by the time needed to change travel behavior [60,65].…”

Fixed‐route taxi system: route network design and fleet size minimization problems

“…Constraint (9) does the same for the second transfer points. Constraint (10) ensures that if k and l are the first and second transfer points of the selected path from i to j then x kl equals 1. In case both z 1 ijk and z 2 ijl become the constraint will reduce to x kl ≥ 1 and hence x kl must be 1.…”

“…In many developed countries therefore FTSs are used for feeding the conventional public transport network . Further FTSs are introduced in order to provide suitable services for people with disabilities or to improve social inclusion in low‐density urban areas . In contrast, in developing countries, the underlying motivations to maintain FTSs are different.…”