The importance of information flows temporal attributes for the efficient scheduling of dynamic demand responsive transport services

Demand Responsive Transport Services (DRTS) are a type of public transportation characterized by the fact that the vehicles operate in response to calls from passengers to the transit operator, who then dispatches a vehicle to collect the clients and transport them to their destinations. This article describes the importance of accurate information flows, notably for time factors, for the efficient scheduling of dynamic DRTS. Dynamic systems are designed to handle changing situations such as incoming requests, customer no-shows at pickup points, vehicle breakdowns, or traffic congestion. The authors begin with a literature review on dynamic demand responsive systems, then describe the problem under study and the simulation process they used to solve it. The authors introduce and discuss some temporal parameters that can be seen as attributes of the information inflows of the scheduling process. The authors found that the relationship between the percentage of offline reservations and the number of rejected requests is not monotonic and is dependent on demand patterns. Fare discounts for early reservations have a positive effect on the scheduling efficiency only if they are determined to assume a critical percentage of offline requests. Pricing policies should be considered together with the performances of the scheduling software. The authors conclude that, in a dynamic environment trying to serve all the requests, a DRTS can lead to oversized fleets. If policy regulations do not allow for rejections, then it is more convenient to foresee the possibility of outsourcing a fraction of these to taxicabs.