Organisation of an Integrated Demand Responsive System

Abstract

Integration of the demand responsive transport system (DRT) with the public transport system can provide an opportunity for the public transport authorities to guarantee accessibility in rural areas and address the first/last mile problem in rural areas. The literature on the institutional arrangement and organising DRT as a part of the public transport system, however, is limited. This research aims to fill this research gap. A cross-case analysis is performed on 4 cases and key learnings from the cases are presented. These cases are examples of systems where DRT operates as a part of the public transport system. From the cross-case analysis, this research proposes an organisational structure that allows the dissolution of the boundaries between the two transport systems. First, a bundling of different types of DRT systems into a single system is proposed. Next, a mobility agency that brings the stakeholders from municipalities and the province into a single body is proposed. The mobility agency will be responsible for developing, planning, contracting, and monitoring the bundled DRT and the public transport systems. Since all these responsibilities will be concentrated in a single body, this structure can lead to alignment between the policies, budgets, and powers of the stakeholders. When an organisational structure is established this way, it is expected that an alignment between the operations of the two systems will follow. However, establishing such a structure is challenging. The challenges are finding the right cooperation model that can be followed by the stakeholders and finding the optimal scale for the structure to work.