Paratransit

The rapid aging of the American population has raised a number of concerns relating to senior mobility. The New Freedom (NF) program, which was designed to go ―above and beyond‖ the transportation requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, has been used to fund transportation for seniors. The primary purpose of this paper is to present the results of an exploratory analysis of the social, physical and functional health and mobility outcomes experienced by senior NF service clients, and the associated Coordinated Human Services Transportation Planning (CHSTP) processes. The paper uses data from primary surveys of the following groups from seven urban, suburban and rural locations: (i) NF-funded transportation service users; (ii) program managers operating the services; and (iii) locally-selected lead and partner organizations involved in developing the CHSTPs. Results show concerns about senior mobility vary significantly by a number of functional, social and physical disability indicators, including Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), that are substantially more complex than a chronological accounting of age. A Principal Component Analysis yielded two constructs underlying seniors’ mobility circumstances: a Transportation Deprivation Component (TDC), and an Independence and Health Deprivation Component (IHDC), with implications for different types of services. To the extent that NF supported transportation services that are supplemental to integrated caregiving to seniors, and thereby enabled a ―continuum of care‖, the program has enhanced community-based interventions to meet the complex mobility needs of seniors in the seven locations.

Keywords: New Freedom, aging, disabilities, Coordinated Human Services Transportation Plan, social and functional health

In cities in the emerging world, public transport networks are governed by a large number of agents, each with their own agendas, priorities, incentives and resources, interacting nonlinearly through complex feedback loops. The transport system in these cities have developed into a semi-chaotic self-organizing structure with seemingly unpredictable behaviour to an outside observer. This is due to user agent actions by passengers, independent determination of operating plans and practices by transport operators, and a managing authority exhibiting a lack of will (both political and institutional), to implement adequate control measures to provide regulation and management of these systems. Based on the problems that face transport systems in developing cities and public transport in particular, this paper reports on an attempt to understand the supply of public transport in the Kampala area in a novel manner. We describe a mapping approach using a custom-developed smartphone application which was used to quickly and accurately capture informal transport systems for analysis and study of urban mobility where no dependable data was currently available. Secondly, based on the data created by the study project, to provide insights into the routes, operations and characteristics of the minibus taxi network which convey the majority of Kampala's travelers. Our hypothesis is that by understanding the network in geospatial terms, we will be able to create benefits for all role-players and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the supply of public transport to more closely match the demand for public transport in an emerging world city.

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to investigate whether industry consolidation (IC) of the taxi operations into Rea Vaya BRT created efficiencies in the public transport sector in Johannesburg and Soweto, for the benefit of consumers. The focus was on the consolidation of the taxi industry and not of other operations, thus the measurement of efficiencies was based only on taxi operations and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) operations in the Johannesburg and Soweto areas.
Literature review: Literature on IC as a mergers and acquisitions strategy was reviewed and analysed. The literature on other BRT systems globally, the institutional arrangements and their efficiencies was also reviewed and compared to Rea Vaya.
Methodology: The methodology applied in this study was based on the positivism research philosophy, applying the deductive approach to test the propositions made by the existing literature, on IC and BRT. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on users’ experiences and the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model was used to mathematically measure these efficiencies.
Findings: Similar to the findings in the literature review, it was found that IC does create efficiencies. From the users’ perspective, Rea Vaya is cheaper, faster and safer. Furthermore, from the application of the DEA model, it was also found that the Rea Vaya Bus Operating Company (BOC), as a consolidated unit, is more efficient than taxi operations.
Originality: No other research has been done to measure the efficiencies of Rea Vaya from the IC point of view. Work has been done to test social and economic benefits of the system for the residents of Soweto, but no link has been made to the consolidation strategy. This research therefore closes the gap in the literature on the use of the IC strategy applied by SA government in implementing these BRTs in the urban cities and government’s strategy as one of the motives for IC in general.
Research limitations: The main limitation of this research was mainly around non-availability of general information from the taxi industry and financial information on the Bus Operating Company of Rea Vaya. Access to users and their reluctance to participate due to recently conducted research was another limitation, but the researcher managed to speak to a larger number of users in order to meet the sample size and endeavoured to explain the differences in the two surveys.
Key words: Industry Consolidation; Efficiency; Bus Rapid Transit; Taxi industry or operations; Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)

Accounting for 70% or more of the public transportation of people in Ghana, the Ghanaian trotro
is probably one of the most efficient paratransit systems in the world. Through its long history it has
developed an efficient and cheap system based on self-management. The main elements are so-called lorry
stations as terminals for the buses driven by trade unions as route associations. A flat rate and the “fill
and run” principle reduce competition among the tro-tros. The fares are fixed and set by the unions after
consulting with the government.
The system is in an ongoing state of transition. The state policy is like a pendulum, swinging from side
to side—from the state steering to liberal freedom and back again. Today, the pendulum is moving towards
more state control and steering out of a desire to find solutions to the heavy rising problems of traffic
congestion, pollution, and accidents. However, a solution based on big busses driven by a state-owned
company appears not to be a good fit for a poor country with weak institutions, widespread corruption,
and nepotism.
While an impressive literature exists on ‘top-down’-planning of large transport systems and is followed
by institutional recommendations from, for instance, the World Bank, this paper advocates for further
research on decentralized solutions based on local entrepreneurship.

Le sujet de cette thèse est le rôle du paratransit dans l’étalement urbain des villes moyennes latino-américaines. Ce mode de transport favorise-t-il leur étalement urbain? Si, oui sous quelle forme?

Pour y répondre, nous avons choisi d’étudier, en détail, le cas de la ville de Puebla, au Mexique. Le cas de Puebla nous semblait intéressant car c’est une ville moyenne, en croissance, dont le système de transport est basé principalement sur le paratransit. Son étude illustre les processus particuliers de croissance urbaine et d’étalement urbain à l’œuvre dans les villes mexicaines, et, dans une moindre mesure, dans les villes latino-américaines aux mêmes caractéristiques de marché immobilier, de transports urbains et de niveaux de revenu.

Après l’introduction de notre problématique, le premier chapitre articule nos concepts de recherche de manière dynamique. Nous avons fait le choix de traiter notre sujet de recherche selon deux niveaux d’analyse, c’est-à-dire les choix individuels de localisation résidentielle et de transport (niveau micro), et, leur résultante spatiale, la forme urbaine (niveau macro). Finalement, l’ajout d’une perspective temporelle nous a permis de mieux comprendre la relation entre le transport et la forme urbaine dans les villes latino-américaines. Nous suivons, ainsi, l’approche de plusieurs auteurs sur le sujet (Dimitriou, 1992 ; Giuliano, 1995a ; Wegener, 1995). À partir de cette conceptualisation et de la revue de la littérature présentée au chapitre deux, nous combinons différents modèles et théories pour décomposer notre question générale de recherche en quatre questions spécifiques. Le chapitre trois détaille la méthodologie générale de notre recherche ainsi que les différents outils de recherche utilisés pour répondre à ces quatre questions spécifiques. Nous utilisons un mélange d’outils qualitatifs et quantitatifs dans une optique de corroboration des résultats observés.

Les chapitres quatre à sept répondent, chacun, à l’une de nos questions spécifiques, selon un axe d’analyse et une temporalité particuliers. Le quatrième chapitre s’interroge sur le fonctionnement actuel du système de paratransit de Puebla et sur l’accessibilité générale offerte. Le cinquième chapitre porte sur la forme urbaine et l’étalement urbain à Puebla en lien avec les contraintes sur le marché du logement et les modes de transport utilisés. Le sixième chapitre vise à comprendre dans quelle mesure l’introduction du paratransit a modifié les liens entre transport et étalement urbain à Puebla, au cours du 20ème siècle. Le septième chapitre a pour objectif, d’un part, de comprendre si le paratransit suit, ou précède, la localisation résidentielle des individus en périphérie. D’autre part, il analyse s’il y soutient une urbanisation duale sur la base des déplacements et de la localisation résidentielle des individus.


Nos principales conclusions sont les suivantes :
1. Le système de paratransit est très étendu dans l’espace et le service est très fréquent. Cette grande accessibilité spatiale et temporelle est compensée par de longs temps de déplacements et des destinations radiales, axées sur les pôles et les couloirs d’activités importants ;
2. La ville s’étale. Cet étalement urbain se caractérise par une forte décroissance des densités de population au centre et leur augmentation en périphérie, et, par une délocalisation des individus, à partir de l’intérieur de la ville, selon certains axes, et, sous une forme peu dense et diffuse ;
3. Le paratransit s’adapte, en périphérie, à des stratégies de localisation résidentielle et de déplacements, variables selon les revenus. Des individus à faible revenu, souvent sans automobile, s’installent en périphérie pour obtenir, en priorité, un plus grand logement, dans un quartier tranquille. Ils démarchent, ensuite, les services urbains, dont le transport en commun. Par ailleurs, ils structurent leurs activités autour de leur zone de résidence ou des centres d’activités importants de la ville. Ils marchent ou se déplacent en transport en commun. À l’inverse, des individus à revenu plus élevé, possesseurs d’un véhicule privé, s’installent en périphérie pour obtenir un plus grand logement dans un quartier tranquille également. Toutefois, ils sont sensibles, dans leurs choix résidentiels, à la proximité des activités et des services, particulièrement de leur travail. Ils se déplacent en automobile ou en transport en commun, et, leurs destinations sont plus étalées dans l’espace. Ces différentes stratégies résidentielles et de déplacements semblent liées au type de travail exercé, soit formel ou informel ;
4. L’introduction du paratransit, dans les années 1980, a découlé d’une adaptation continuelle du système de transport au développement urbain, fortement contraint par les niveaux de revenu et le marché immobilier. En effet, tout au long du 20ème siècle, on assiste à l’adaptation du système de transport en commun aux besoins générés par la croissance urbaine. Cette adaptation a été rendue possible, d’une part, par l’utilisation de véhicules de plus en plus flexibles, et, d’autre part, par une décentralisation croissante de la gestion du système. Il s’agit, aussi, de choix politiques de la part du gouvernement qui favorise une logique privée d’urbanisation, faute de moyens.

En résumé, la flexibilité technique et organisationnelle du paratransit soutient l’étalement urbain de la ville sous une forme diffuse et peu dense, mais axiale. On peut s’interroger, à l’avenir, sur le développement durable des villes qui utilisent ce système de transport en commun.

Through selected ethnographic approaches, this study aims to examine the nature of informal bus-oriented modes of transport within Lagos and the extent to which they co-exist with, or resist, formal modes provided by the state. It also seeks to explore Lagosians' perceptions of transport issues within the city and how this is differentiated across various stakeholders in terms of socio-economic characteristics. Situated within the broader context of modernisation discourses of development, this research specifically draws on urban transport planning (Tolley and Turton, 1995) and debates around formal and informal service provisioning within the developing world (Sundaram, 2009). Despite significant literature on formal and informal urban transport systems within Latin America and Asia (Gwilliam, 2003; Dimitriou, 2013; Vasconcellos, 2014), comparatively little attention has been paid to the African experience. Where attention has been paid, this has largely been from a purely technical standpoint, generating aggregate statistics, with little documentation of the perspectives of African people themselves. Justification for this research therefore comes in the opportunity to shed new light on how the complexities of these debates play out within the context of a major African city.

An analytical model could potentially be used by paratransit service planners to predict fleet requirements, system capacity, and quality-of-service measures for specific operating conditions. The model has a sound theoretical origin and was calibrated using data from a large number of simulated cases representing a wide range of operating conditions and quality of service. This model was shown to have a strong explanatory power, capable of capturing the complex relationship between fleet size, travel demand, quality-of-service measures, and other operating condition variables. With this model, analytical procedures similar to those provided in the Highway Capacity Manual and the Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual for other transportation facilities and services could be developed for paratransit systems.

Transport is an integral component of the energy system, and in Sub-Saharan Africa the demand for transport has been increasing due in part to population growth and economic development. To demonstrate the extent of this increased demand, emissions from transport in Africa grew by 84% over 6 years last decade [1] until, in 2018 in Sub-Saharan Africa, 15% of final energy consumption was demanded by the transport sector [2]. However, a global system change is underway for road passenger transport: a transition from polluting internal combustion engine vehicles to low-emission electric vehicles. Sub-Saharan Africa will not be immune to this transition, especially as a region which currently depends heavily on the import of second-hand vehicles [3]; not to mention the emission and air quality benefits electric vehicles can offer. Yet, by 2019 only 500 electric vehicles were on the roads in South Africa [4]. In this Viewpoint, we aim to dispel concerns that electric vehicles are always unaffordable and will cripple the already overloaded power systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. Instead, we propose that with innovative thinking and context-specific approaches and technologies, different from those in High-Income Countries, electric vehicles could in fact offer benefits to governments, the power systems, and vehicle owner-operators in Sub-Saharan Africa. We lay out how the historically siloed transport and electricity sectors could evolve to support each other in the future.

How many times in the past year have you heard someone say that the future of mobility is shared, electric, autonomous and connected? While this utopian view sounds like something we should strive for, we are missing two critical aspects of mobility: accessibility and inclusivity.  This article explores these two aspects of mobility in relation to technology and policy.

With all of the news lately about technology – technology to make it easier for older adults and people with disabilities to travel, self-driving cars and smartphone apps to tell you when the next bus is coming – you may be wondering how to approach a technology project. To ensure success in technology planning and implementation, it is critical to use a process that identifies user needs, defines what the technology should do to satisfy user needs and follows a rigorous testing process is critical to successful technology planning implementation. This post describes a process that will ensure successful implementation.

Technology projects can be funded using a variety of sources, all of which can have different requirements and time frames. This creates a challenging environment in which agencies may not have all the funding they need to fully implement technology, often causing them to make short-terms decisions. Further, this can cause agencies to “back into” the available funding and not plan for the future when they may receive additional funding. This article covers some ideas for coping with this situation.

This report presents four case studies detailing what has been achieved through the Mobility Services for All Americans (MSAA) deployment planning, implementation, and/or Travel Management Coordination Center (TMCC) development. It additionally discusses whether MSAA
funding or other federal assistance has had an impact on TMCC development, and what links exist between MSAA and its observed impacts. Prior to the detailed case studies, the report describes the selection process for the four agencies selected for detailed study, including the survey questions asked of the initially selected agencies. Following the case studies, the report finishes by summarizing results and conclusions of the case studies.

Het doelgroepenvervoer in Nederland draagt bij aan de zelfredzaamheid van zijn gebruikers en hun mogelijkheden om maatschappelijk actief te zijn. Zonder deze speciale vervoersvoorziening zou het mensen met een mobiliteitsbeperking vaak niet lukken om buitenshuis activiteiten uit te voeren en aan de samenleving deel te nemen: een meerderheid van de gebruikers (52 procent) zou thuisblijven bij de laatst gemaakte rit, zo concludeert het Kennisinstituut voor Mobiliteitsbeleid (KiM) in een verkennende studie naar de gebruikers en het gebruik van het Wmo-vervoer en Valys. Het KiM keek ook naar de mogelijkheden van gebruikers om voor ritten in het doelgroepenvervoer uit te wijken naar andere vervoerwijzen.  Het aandeel dat kan verschuiven naar het openbaar vervoer schat het KiM gering. Dat en meer is te lezen in de publicatie ‘De gebruikers van het sociaal-recreatieve doelgroepenvervoer in Nederland’.
De resultaten van het onderzoek laten zien dat voor de meeste gebruikers van het sociaal-recreatieve doelgroepenvervoer de vervoersdienst (Wmo-vervoer of Valys) een noodzakelijke aanvulling vormt op het palet van reismogelijkheden, vooral op momenten en over afstanden waarbij andere opties afvallen. Het gebruik van openbaar vervoer is meestal geen alternatief, omdat het aanbod ontoereikend is voor de gewenste verplaatsing en omdat de gebruiker van de speciale vervoersdiensten niet of moeilijk zelfstandig met het openbaar vervoer kan reizen. 
Het gebruik van de vervoersdiensten is opvallend scheef verdeeld: circa 20 procent van de mensen met toegang tot het Wmo-vervoer is goed voor 80 procent van alle gemaakte ritten. Mede vanwege de scheve verdeling is een duidelijk onderscheid tussen ‘pashouders’ (mensen met toegang), ‘gebruikers’ (pashouders met actief gebruik) en ‘passagiers’ (mensen in het voertuig) noodzakelijk voor onderzoek en beleid. Reismotieven zijn veelal sociaal, medisch en recreatief van aard. Het gebruik van de diensten stijgt bij ongunstige weersomstandigheden. De ritten worden doorgaans telefonisch besteld, meestal ruim voor vertrek.
De gebruikers zijn veelal 75 jaar en ouder en wonen bovengemiddeld vaak in stedelijk gebied. Onder de gebruikers domineren de vrouwen, ook wanneer we rekening houden met het hoge aandeel vrouwen op hoge leeftijden. De gebruikers zijn gemiddeld genomen tevreden over de voorziening, vooral over het persoonlijk contact en de assistentie tijdens de reis. Men is het meest kritisch ten aanzien van reistijd en betrouwbaarheid.
Voor dit onderzoek maakte het KiM gebruik van rittenregistraties van Valys en bij het Wmo-vervoer in diverse regio’s. Ook werden telefonisch en online vragenlijsten afgenomen onder gebruikers van de sociaal-recreatieve vervoersdiensten.

This report presents four case studies detailing what has been achieved through the Mobility Services for All Americans (MSAA) deployment planning, implementation, and/or Travel Management Coordination Center (TMCC) development. It additionally discusses whether MSAA funding or other federal assistance has had an impact on TMCC development, and what links exist between MSAA and its observed impacts. Prior to the detailed case studies, the report describes the selection process for the four agencies selected for detailed study, including the survey questions asked of the initially selected agencies. Following the case studies, the report finishes by summarizing results and conclusions of the case studies.

The use of three-wheelers as a Para-transit facility plays a significant role in the public transportation system of developing countries like India. Three-wheelers are found to be more efficient in providing the last-mile connectivity of commuters for shorter trips in small or medium-sized cities, public transportation provides less travel cost, reduces conjunction and it does not fulfil the necessity of overcrowding in peak hours and increased waiting time. In this study how public bus transportation has been influenced due to the Para-transit system has been become aware and an attempt is made to analyze the perspective of commuters for the utility of three-wheelers and public bus transportation. A face to face interview was conducted at selected routes of Hyderabad city through a questionnaire form has filled by the users of three-wheelers and public bus transportation. To understand the mode shift activities, support vector machine (SVM) model is used. Results show that 52% of three-wheeler users will be probably shifted to public bus transportation by providing a better service. It also observed the fare showing a high positive impact and trip length showing a high negative impact on mode selection. Some useful data and recommendations/suggestions have been made to improve the bus transportation system and also useful to the operating companies for policy marketing.

Demand-responsive technology has long had theoretical potential in urban mobility (Jokinen, 2011), but the failure of microtransit companies in the US and UK should be noted as cautionary to the trial or implementation of demand-responsive services without adequate modelling. This paper attempts to produce a numerical model to the concept of "New Generation Services" outlined in the City of Cape Town MyCiti Business Plan 2018, or the "Hybrid Model" that has entered the current transport planning lexicon in South Africa since 2017. The authors aim to demonstrates a method for how detailed on-board survey data can be extrapolated and collated to prove the business case for minibus-taxi operators to shift from the current inefficient "load-and-go" operation to a more direct demand-responsive service. This paper presents a description of a methodology that is followed to capture test data, develop supply and demand models, run simulations and optimize the system to rationalize operations and business case for various operators. The numerical model is a demand and supply model, where the recommended fleet size is determined from the current passenger demand in the service network. In developing the demand and supply model, the data is obtained from onboard vehicle survey data. The model calculates total operating cost, revenue and carbon footprint of the current operations to the optimized and rationalized operations recommended in the model.