THE OPERATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CARTERTON DIAL-A-BUS SERVICE

The whole of the free-standing Village of Carterton in Oxfordshire is served by a single-vehicle between-peaks dial-a-bus service. This report provides a detailed description of the service and the way in which it operates in practice. After one year of operation, the regular patronage is roughly 7-800 trips per week. Over 90 per cent of the adult trips are made by women, and the purpose of two-thirds of the trips is shopping. There are about twice as many trips out from the village centre as into it. In the absence of the service, nearly 80 per cent of the trips would be made on foot. The service has assumed a mode of operation which is essentially that of a fixed-route minibus, with only about 4 per cent of trips being initiated by telephone. The service has succeeded in attracting new bus patronage from areas already served by conventional buses apparently as a result of its simple timetable, its good adherence to schedule, and its central waiting room, which has become a sociable meeting place. In its original form the service covered little more than one fifth of its total costs, but modifications are planned to both increase revenue and curtail costs. /Author/TRRL/

• Corporate Authors:

  Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)

  Wokingham, Berkshire  United Kingdom 
• Authors:
  • WATTS, P F
• Publication Date: 1976

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 40 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Costs; Economic factors; Economics; Females; Fixed routes; Minibuses; Paratransit services; Ridership; Scheduling; Shopping; Shopping centers; Timetables; Transportation; Transportation operations; Trip generation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Use
• Old TRIS Terms: Dial-a-bus
• ITRD Terms: 1157: Community transport; 224: Cost; 1157: Dial a ride; 263: Economics of transport; 696: Journey purpose; 1144: Operations (transp network); 320: Shopping centre; 1084: Stop (public transport); 1186: Timetable; 9084: Use; 1788: Woman
• Subject Areas: Economics; Planning and Forecasting; Transportation (General); I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00137751
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Report/Paper Numbers: Lab. Rpt. 694
• Files: ITRD, TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Apr 13 1981 12:00AM