Estimating Ridership of Rural Demand-Response Transit Services for the General Public

The objective of this study is to develop a model for estimating demand for rural demand-response transit services for the general public. Lack of data for demand-response service characteristics and geographic coverage has limited the development of such models. This study developed two models for estimating demand. The first used data from the 2013 rural National Transit Database, and the second used more detailed service data collected from surveys of transit agencies. Results showed that in addition to total population, demographic characteristics are important. Ridership was found to significantly increase when the percentage of the population comprised of older adults or people without access to a vehicle increased. Both models showed a negative effect of fares on ridership. The second model analyzed the impacts of service span and reservation requirements on ridership. Results showed that providing more days of service had an expected positive impact on ridership, while allowing users to reserve rides on shorter notice also had a significant positive effect. Compared to previous research, including a greater number of variables and more specific service information improved the performance of the models.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.5038/CUTR-NCTR-RR-2016-02
• Record URL:
  https://www.ugpti.org/resources/reports/details.php?id=851
• 
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/31279
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This document was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
• Corporate Authors:

  Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute

  Small Urban and Rural Transit Center, North Dakota State University, P.O. Box 6050
  Fargo, ND  United States  58108-6050

  National Center for Transit Research

  Center for Urban Transportation Research, University of South Florida
  4202 East Fowler Avenue, CUT 100
  Tampa, FL  United States  33620

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Mattson, Jeremy
  • 0000-0002-0826-5834
• Publication Date: 2016-8

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 32p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Demographics; Estimating; Fares; Paratransit services; Reservations; Ridership; Rural areas; Rural transit; Surveys; Travel demand
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01612467
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 21177060-NCTR-NDSU08
• Files: UTC, NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Sep 30 2016 9:55AM