COMPARISON OF USER-SIDE SUBSIDY AND DIAL-A-RIDE SERVICES OPERATED IN LOS ANGELES

The study is a comparative analysis of the dial-a-ride and user-side subsidy community transit service operations provided in Los Angeles. The study concentrates on two project areas, Venice and West Central, in which dial-a-ride services operated in 1980 were replaced with user-side subsidy operations in 1981. The dial-a-ride service, as operated in Los Angeles, requires a contractor to provide a specific number of vehicle hours of service per month; the contractor is compensated on that basis. The user pays a fixed fare regardless of the length of trip. The trip must be arranged at least 24 hr in advance and is provided between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. The user-side subsidy program requires the user to purchase coupons that are good for 24-hr service from any participating taxicab company of the user's choosing. The broker subcontracts with the taxicab operators to reimburse them for the coupons they receive. The user is allowed to use up to $5.00 in coupons for each one-way trip and must pay in cash any amount over the coupon limit. Three measures of comparison were used in the analysis: patronage, cost to the user, and cost per passenger. Under equal funding levels, more trips were provided by the user-side subsidy program. The user-side subsidy patronage exceeded the dial-a-ride patronage by 75 percent in Venice and 40 percent in West Central. Dial-a-ride fares were fixed at $0.15/trip in 1980, but a new state law adopted for 1981 financing would have required the city to raise the dial-a-ride fares to an average of $1.40/trip. The user-side subsidy service costs the user an average of $0.92/trip. Over two quarters of operation, the user-side subsidy patronage grew considerably, reducing the costs to an average of $5.63/passenger, approximately 60 percent of the dial-a-ride cost per passenger. The comparisons made in this study indicate that user-side subsidy service is superior to dial-a-ride service for Los Angeles.

Media Info

  • Media Type: Print
  • Features: Figures; Tables;
  • Pagination: pp 66-71
  • Monograph Title: TRANSPORTATION INNOVATIONS: RIDESHARING TECHNIQUES AND PUBLIC-PRIVATE COOPERATION
  • Serial:

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00381507
  • Record Type: Publication
  • ISBN: 0309035570
  • Files: TRIS, TRB
  • Created Date: Feb 29 1984 12:00AM