Comparison between ad-hoc demand responsive and conventional transit: a simulation study

Considering the sprawl of cities, conventional public transport with fixed route and fixed schedule becomes less efficient and desirable every day. However, emerging technologies in computation and communication are facilitating more adaptive types of public transport systems, such as demand responsive transport that operates according to real-time demand. It is crucial to study the feasibility and advantages of these novel systems before implementation to prevent failure and financial loss. In this work, an extensive comparison of demand responsive transport and conventional public transport is provided by incorporating a dynamic routing algorithm into an agent-based traffic simulation. The results show that replacing conventional public transport with demand responsive transport will improve the mobility by decreasing the perceived travel time by passengers without any extra cost under certain circumstances. The simulation results are confirmed for different forms of networks, including a real-world network proving the potential of demand responsive transport to solve the challenge of underutilised conventional public transport in suburban areas with low transport demand.

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