Improving Capacity Planning for Demand-Responsive Paratransit Services

10990452008PDFTech ReportMN/RC 2008-09(c) 81655 (wo) 169Paratransit servicesMobilityIn transit passenger servicesDemand responsive transportationMinnesota. Dept. of TransportationGupta, DiwakarChen, Hao-WeiMiller, LisaSurya, FajarraniUniversity of Minnesota. Department of Industrial and Systems EngineeringUniversity of Minnesota. Dept. of Mechanical EngineeringMinnesota. Dept. of TransportationUS Transportation CollectionThis report proposes and evaluates two ideas for improving efficiency and service quality of paratransit operations. For carrying out this analysis, the authors use data from Metro Mobility, the agency responsible for providing ADA-mandated transportation services in the Twin Cities. However, the underlying principles, mathematical models, and algorithms are applicable to a variety of similar transportation operations in urban and rural areas. The first idea is to re-optimize routes developed by Metro Mobility\u2019s route-building software (a commercial product named Trapeze) at the end of each day of booking operations to reduce the total time it takes to serve booked trips. The second idea evaluates the selective use of non-dedicated vehicles and service providers (e.g. taxi services) for lowering operational costs. Mathematical models and computer algorithms are developed for each of these approaches. These are then tested on actual operational data obtained from Metro Mobility. The report shows that a conservative estimate of savings from re-optimization would be 5% of Metro Mobility\u2019s operating costs. Additional savings from the use of taxi service would be in the hundreds of dollars per day. The actual magnitude of these savings would depend on the proportion of customers who agree to travel by taxi.75