A Study of the Impact of APTS on Service Quality Perceptions of Elderly and Disabled Riders

New transportation technology that directly impacts consumers should be evaluated by the people who are affected. This article summarizes a study analyzing consumer response to an automated dispatching program called Mobility Manager at a demonstration site in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Mobility Manager was applied to the TransAID demand-responsive mini-bus service for elderly or disabled riders. Survey data from two questionnaires, before and after the implementation of Mobility Manager for the same subjects, were used to examine travel behavior and perceived service quality. These travelers reported improved telephone access and shorter travel times. The respondents’ travel patterns after implementation remained stable. This article also provides econometric estimates of the change in the number of trips as a function of the change in travel attributes affected by the implementation. Changes in the number of trips were treated as a Poisson random variable. Results from a Poisson regression show that the primary beneficiaries were riders with disabilities. Perceived service attributes that significantly affected changes in trips were length of trip, number of stops to pick up additional passengers, and physical comfort.