OSPE - The Voice - Fall 2020 - 32

INDUSTRY

Figure 1:
The spectrum
of demandresponsive
transit

maximum trip length will force the algorithms running thousands
of routing options in the cloud to look for solutions that don't keep
passengers on board for too long and guarantee a seat once a trip
is reserved.
This feedback loop has become especially useful during
the COVID-19 pandemic. The advantage of modern demandresponsive transit (DRT) systems is that they are both flexible to
demand and can dynamically adjust the capacity of vehicles. This
has allowed agencies to adapt more cost-effectively to the decrease
in transit demand brought about by the pandemic and remove a lot
of the uncertainty surrounding crowding and capacity enforcement
from the day-to-day operations.
By adjusting vehicle capacities, passengers have certainty that
they will have physically distanced room on the bus when it arrives,
and drivers will not have to enforce physical distancing by refusing
pickups. A few agencies used the pandemic as an opportunity to test
the flexibility of the service, both in scalability and adaptability.
Belleville, Ontario which operated evening DRT service before
the pandemic, made the decision to transition to exclusively DRT
service for several months during the initial outbreak. As they were
using existing full-size buses as part of their service, transitioning
involved minimal infrastructure costs and driver training. Now that
ridership has started to return, they have made the switch back to
fixed route service but have kept their on-demand evening service.
In Alberta, Okotoks reported utilizing the extra vehicle hours
made available by lower demand to provide a grocery delivery
service, minimizing the increase in operating costs. Agencies such
as Okotoks, with smaller vehicles, may have a harder time providing
the appropriate level of physical distancing, even after limiting
capacity through the booking process.
Regardless of the pandemic, while technology has expanded the

THE VOICE Fall 2020

situations in which on-demand service is feasible, it is not a onesize-fits-all solution. Traditional fixed route service in dense areas
still carries vastly higher numbers of passengers, and it remains to
be seen just how much these new on-demand transit technologies
can scale with growing demand. On-demand transit is still best
suited for low-demand areas and times where the goal is to provide
coverage to many stops at a lower cost.
It's also not clear how much the "digital divide" has limited access
to the benefits offered by these new systems. While most services
offer a call-in option to book trips, it is usually only during business
hours, requiring late-night travellers to plan ahead. Agencies
reported few to no issues with the use of these applications, but
there is more work to be done to understand who this new service
may be leaving behind.
On-demand transit has seen a recent renaissance, both in Canada
and around the world. Service that wasn't possible before is now
successful, enabling much-needed transit in rural and suburban
areas. As we learn about what Canadian transit agencies are doing,
the next step is to better quantify the value and limitations of this
new approach to demand-responsive transit.
Transit systems and developers alike can learn from these early
adopters of technology-driven service. More on-demand transit
services are expected to appear in Canadian cities in the next two
years, powered by Canadian technology companies. Engineers will
continue to play a vital role in developing new software applications,
providing thoughtful analytical support for the planning process,
and improving service through thoughtful data-driven evaluation.
OSPE partnered with the University of Toronto and Mitacs
to create a detailed study on the current state of DRT systems in
Canada. To read the full research report, visit ospe.on.ca/advocacy/
our-work/research-reports/.

http://ospe.on.ca/advocacy/

OSPE - The Voice - Fall 2020

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