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This chapter identifies the reasons why widespread and large-scale development of DRT has not emerged in the past 10 years even though previous research and analysis had suggested that conditions existed to facilitate such development.

Drawing on personal experience of operating DRT networks, supplemented by an analysis of the operating environment, operational barriers to implementation are identified.

Research results into the identified inhibiting factors are presented and supplemented by personal experience and interviews with key individuals. A successful integrated approach that has allowed a large DRT network to develop is described.

Recent changes in financial and structural conditions affecting the suitability of DRT in the United Kingdom as a solution to unmet travel needs and as a cost-effective alternative to conventional passenger transport are described. It is suggested that these factors have the potential to overcome barriers to further development. However, remaining obstacles in the field of Telematics are identified which may need further attention.

Introduction of large-scale DRT networks will not only be more cost effective but also offset financially driven service reductions and allow unmet travel needs to be met.

The identification of financial, technical, legal and social obstacles to the widespread implementation of DRT allows barriers to be addressed and removed and the full benefits of DRT to be realised. At a time of financial constraint, this allows more economic and integrated passenger transport solutions to be introduced to benefit both end users and service commissioners.

An increasing literature focuses on how Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) may contribute to improve public transport. However, qualitative studies about whether such services contribute to social inclusion are lacking. The aim is therefore to understand how citizens experience DRT services.

For this purpose, we compare the different local public transport solutions in three rural municipalities in Norway. One case represents a conventional public transport service with a school bus that is open for all. The two other cases represent DRT solutions with different characteristics in terms of how extensive the services are. The data are qualitative, gathered via interviews and focus groups.

We find that who the users are and their patterns of use differ between the cases. The more extensive the service is, the more popular it is – even to the extent that leisure clubs adapt their start and end times to the public transport routes. Moreover, the evidence suggests that door-to-door transport is crucial for the ability of many people of older age to travel.

The need for door-to-door services means that flexibility has to be incorporated into DRT schemes with fixed bus stops, if the aim is to cover all citizens.

The insights about how not only the users themselves experience different transport services, but also their relations, provide added value. Finally, we argue that, given among others the dispersion of transport responsibilities on different political levels and sectors, the DRT services have not been successful in solving efficiency issues.

Technological and cultural changes of the past decade have revealed new ways to use the object of the car as demand responsive yet not private. Cars are increasingly able to fulfil the aims of demand responsive transport (DRT), by providing equitable access to flexible, yet sustainable, transport. This chapter outlines the conceptual and empirical case for this increasingly dynamic form of DRT and labels it ‘cars on demand’.

A review of literature and practice is used to detail characteristics of cars on demand, and the reasons for its emergence. Key features are illustrated using examples from around the world.

Cars on demand is a rapidly changing field. New economic models of provision are emerging, yet not all are designed to fulfil the aims of DRT by making transport more sustainable or equitable. These models do, however, contribute to making cars on demand work by encouraging transition from a culture of private-car ownership, to one where the car is an object ‘just’ for use. Cars on demand can therefore contribute to the fracturing of the powerful system of private-car use. Its relationship with decreased vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT) and transport disadvantage is, however, complex and vulnerable to erosion. This vulnerability can be mitigated by regulation and better understanding through research.

This chapter provides a novel conceptualisation of the way the object of the car is used in a demand responsive way. It contributes to understandings of regulatory issues surrounding shared mobility, and provides directions for future research.

This chapter provides the context for this book and highlights how the different chapters contribute to a greater understanding of how the flexible transport future may emerge.

This chapter reviews the content of the book, drawing together the threads to provide insights into the important issues and policies around the world both in practice and for the future.

This book benefits from the papers presented at the TRB-sponsored International Paratransit Conference, “Shaping the New Future of Paratransit,” held in Monterey, CA in the United States (US) in October 2014. Over and above this, chapters were commissioned so as to provide a broader understanding of context and operations. The present is affected by the common problem of the silo nature of funding for transport and the need for innovative solutions to develop partnership working and business models which in turn will allow paratransit or flexible transport systems (FTS) to flourish. This chapter also points to the considerable contribution of the chapters which look to the flexible transport future. These detail the way in which our understanding of mobility must change, the role of technology as an enabler, and the way in which automation will change each mobility mode and the connections between them.

This chapter offers a multidimensional perspective of the current status, operational aspects, and a wealth of case study material to underpin policy and practice in paratransit or FTS. Its particular value is centered on providing not only practice-focused policy content but research content which postulates how the flexible future may need to be influenced to emerge in a way to add to sustainability.

There is a heavy dependence on cars for people living in rural areas and small towns. The countryside has so far been left out of the transition to carbon-free transport, and public transport shares are low in rural areas. New information and communication technology (ICT) solutions and autonomous vehicles (AVs) have the potential to improve the conditions for public transport in rural areas, as they may increase efficiency and reduce costs. Still, these technological novelties are rarely tested in rural settings and policy focus and pilot tests have occurred almost exclusively in cities. The aim of this chapter is to explore the conditions and challenges for public transport in rural areas through ICT and AVs. The authors will discuss how policy focus needs to change to increase attention to rural areas and give suggestions on concrete policy measures that can be used. In the chapter, the authors draw empirically on results from two research projects in Sweden about the conditions for public transport in rural areas and ongoing tests with new ICT solutions.

The roles of ‘conventional’ (fixed-route and fixed-timetable) bus services is examined and compared to demand-responsive services, taking rural areas in England as the basis for comparison. It adopts a ‘rural’ definition of settlements under a population of 10,000.

Evidence from the National Travel Survey, technical press reports and academic work is brought together to examine the overall picture.

Inter-urban services between towns can provide a cost-effective way of serving rural areas where smaller settlements are suitably located. The cost structures of both fixed-route and demand-responsive services indicate that staff time and cost associated with vehicle provision are the main elements. Demand-responsive services may enable larger areas to be covered, to meet planning objectives of ensuring a minimum of level of service, but experience often shows high unit cost and public expenditure per passenger trip. Economic evaluation indicates user benefits per passenger trip of similar magnitude to existing average public expenditure per trip on fixed-route services. Considerable scope exists for improvements to conventional services through better marketing and service reliability.

The main issue in England is the level of funding for rural services in general, and the importance attached to serving those without access to cars in such areas.

The boundary between fixed-route and demand-responsive operation may lie at relatively low population densities.

The chapter uses statistical data, academic research and operator experience of enhanced conventional bus services to provide a synthesis of outcomes in rural areas.

This chapter adopts a transport systems approach to explore why the adoption of paratransit modes is low and sporadic. Regulatory and institutional barriers are identified as a major reason for this. The chapter then reviews key trends and issues relating to the uptake of, and barriers to, paratransit modes. Based on this analysis a new regulatory structure is proposed.

Case studies and research/practice literature.

Following an exploration of the nature of paratransit system design and traditional definitions of ‘paratransit’, it is concluded that institutional barriers are critical. However, current societal trends and service developments, and in particular initiatives from the technology service industry, are developing significant new paratransit models. The chapter concludes with a proposed redefinition of paratransit to facilitate a regulatory change to help overcome its institutional challenges.

A paratransit transformation of public transport services would produce travel behaviours different from models and perspectives built around corridor/timetabled public transport services.

Technology firm invaders (e.g. Uber) are viewed as disrupters from normal transport planning to be controlled or excluded. However they may be the key to a transport system transformation.

Existing public transport modes are ill-suited to modern patterns of travel demand. A system involving paratransit could produce enhanced social mobility and system-level improvements in CO₂ emissions.

This chapter identifies the key issues raised by the emergence of new paratransit modes and the new actors involved. A new regulatory structure is proposed which reflects this understanding.