Improving public transportation in ruralregions by implementing public mobility

Abstract

In rural regions public transportation is difficult to facilitate, low densities make it difficult to justify a dense bus network. Simultaneously also in rural regions people that are dependent on public transportation exist. These people should be served by the public transportation. To be able to compete with car users and gain more travellers local bus lines are frequently stretched to improve commercial speed. This enlarges the access and egress distances which may be (too) difficult to overcome. This thesis wants to investigate the potential of integrating public mobility into the public transportation system within rural regions for short local trips and access and egress to stretched bus lines (interlocal bus services).

To assess the potential role of public mobility, a literature study is first conducted to identify the benefits, functioning, and malfunctioning of different aspects of the public mobility spectrum. Both the node configurations through which public mobility is provided and the systems themselves are examined. Based on this literature study operational constraints are formulated and a selection of modes is made for use in the subsequent modelling phase. The selected public mobility types are demand responsive transportation (DRT), shared mobility, and ride-sharing, in combination with the existing interlocal bus service. Under the defined operational constraints, DRT may only serve trips between nodes and the nearest interlocal bus station, and vice versa. Battery-powered vehicles may only operate between any node and any interlocal bus station, conventional bicycles may be used for any trip, and ride-sharing is only encouraged from specific locations focused on the creation of corridors between villages and the interlocal bus service. Given these constraints a discrete-event, agent-based simulation with stochastic demand and mode choice is developed for the case area of the Krimpenerwaard.

The results of the model indicate that conventional bicycles, in combination with the interlocal bus service, form the backbone of the system. For longer access and egress trips to interlocal bus stations, electric bicycles offer clear benefits and are the primary mode. Ride-sharing is a dominant mode on few OD-pairs of the selected corridors. however, the overall share of trips made using ride-sharing remains marginal. The cabin scooter emerges as an important mode for people with limited mobility and providing shelter during rainy conditions. Due to its lower speed, trip distances are generally short, resulting primarily in trips to and from the nearest interlocal bus station. While it is not the preferred option for most travellers, it plays a crucial role in ensuring system accessibility for all users. DRT is the least-used mode, due to its operational constraints, it does not offer a fast alternative, and most DRT users lack viable substitutes. Therefore, it is essential that a DRT service is available to provide these users with a viable travel solution. Simultaneously due to the enormous costs for a DRT it is preferred to minimise the trips as much as possible, therefore it is not advised to improve the operational constraints to gain a higher usage. Although a 45 km/h scooter is included in the model, the most promising fleet compositions exclude scooters. This is the result of a competition between scooters and the interlocal bus due to both having a the higher velocity while the bus also has a high capacity the scooter is unable to deliver enough trips given the cost constraints. This results in an unstable system configuration, which should therefore be avoided.

The results further show that the lower the settlement density, the greater the potential improvements offered by public mobility relative to the existing system. In suburban areas, public mobility is unable to compete with local bus services. Under the model assumptions, and with a confidence level of 99%, the integration of public mobility increases ridership by at least 5.8%, while cancelled trips increase by no more than 17.6% across all more rural settlement typologies. In villages, the overall benefits are limited for most trips; however, the slowest 1% of trips experience a commercial speed improvement of at least 64.7%, contributing to a more equitable mobility system. During peak hours, villages generate trip volumes that public mobility services are unable to accommodate effectively, making bus services the preferable option. Outside peak hours, when demand decreases, public mobility becomes more advantageous than local bus services. In ribbon developments, average travellers experience a commercial speed increase of 55.5%, while dispersed settlements show an even larger improvement of 319.1% in average commercial speed. Based on these findings, it is recommended to implement public mobility in rural regions with a focus on dispersed settlements, ribbon developments, and villages, while ensuring the presence of a fast and frequent interlocal bus service and dedicated rush-hour bus services for villages.