Workshop 4 report: Realising the Potential Benefits of Demand-Responsive Travel

Abstract

This paper synthesises evidence from Workshop 4 ‘Realising the Potential Benefits of Demand-Responsive Travel’ of the 16th International Conference on Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport. The paper outlines key findings from 10 research papers presented at the workshop, which was structured into three broad topics, namely, A. DRT Development Challenges B. DRT User Perspectives, C. DRT Design and Planning Experience. Based on the three-day collaborative workshop, this paper synthesises the outcomes of discussions around these topics. The workshop established that DRT services are in their nature, an intermediary to fixed route services and fully flexible point-to-point transport by private cars. Thus, DRT has the potential to complement existing public transport services. There remain obstacles to mainstreaming DRT services, in particular high costs of operation, and high costs of adoption by users and apprehension among users about whether the DRT experience fits their needs. Policymakers, operators and researchers should concentrate efforts on overcoming these concerns.