Conventional fixed-line bus services are ineffective and costly in areas of low demand. Bus operators are motivated to scale down their service to reduce costs. Consequently, many rural areas in the Netherlands suffer from diminishing accessibility to jobs, hospitals, and education using public transport. Demand responsive transport (DRT) systems can offer a solution, but have been struggling in adoption by travellers because the need to make a reservation is perceived as an obstacle. Furthermore, the performance of DRT systems is complex and requires evaluation before implementation. In this context, this thesis considers the replacement of three low-demand bus lines by a DRT system in Voorne-Putten Rozenburg, Netherlands. Two scenarios are formulated: the replacement of a single bus line and the replacement of all three low-demand bus lines. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the performance of a DRT system in serving the travel demand currently served by the bus lines. To obtain the travel demand, individual trips from the existing bus line were generated from aggregated data on boarding and alighting in 2023. The travel demand in a DRT system was evaluated using an agent-based simulation approach. To address the perceived obstacle of making reservations, the DRT system also considered on-demand requests and a proposed stop-based request where the user can request the DRT service physically at the bus stop with the consequence that the DRT system initially only knows the users' origin and not the destination. The main results suggest that a DRT system is an improvement over fixed-line buses in terms of waiting time and travel time, and CO₂ emissions when considering current travel demand in both scenarios. However, the costs are comparable. In the case that travel demand increases more than twofold, fixed-line buses are to be preferred. Considering the different request methods, only a small difference in user times was observed. This thesis concludes that replacing the bus lines with a DRT system can lead to an increase in accessibility. The proposed stop-based request method was shown to be a feasible alternative to the request methods that require the use of an app or phone call and could potentially lower the obstacle to using DRT.

The classical process capability indices are still the most prominently used by practitioners for asymmetrical tolerances even while not accurately reflecting on process capability. It appears that an adequate measure of capability for asymmetrical tolerances is yet to be discovered. This report formulates a list of five desirable PCI properties and explores some proposed indices developed for asymmetrical tolerances by comparing them to the properties. As none of the discussed indices satisfy all properties, four new proposals are made that improve upon existing indices. The new indices are related to process yield and centering, and compared to the existing indices. Further research is required to determine whether the new proposals are to be used in practice, but for now they serve as a source of inspiration in the development of PCIs for asymmetric tolerances.