Deliberation of Providing Dial-a-Ride Service for Vulnerable Groups in Urban Transit Planning

Deliberation of Providing Dial-a-Ride Service for Vulnerable Groups in Urban Transit Planning By Li WenZhao (Corresponding author) Graduate Student College of Metropolitan Transportation, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China Tel: (8610) 13020050999; Fax: (8610) 6739-2991 Email: 941102524@qq.com Yang XiaoKuan, Ph.D. Professor, College of Metropolitan Transportation, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China Tel: (8610) 6739-1678; Fax: (8610) 6739-2991 Email: xiaokuan@hotmail.com (3400 + 9 Figures 250 = 5650 words) This paper is submitted to the 95 th TRB Annual Meeting of 2016, Washington DC, USA

ABSTRACT Dial-a-ride system has been developed maturely in some European countries and the USA. Dial-a-ride is a type of transportation service in paratransit system for ride-sharing purpose as well as for the disable group who can neither access to car nor public transit. With the development of civilized society, we should pay more attention to the vulnerable group when we try to allocate social resources equally. This is especially true in our exiting transportation service systems. Unfortunately, very few disable people in Beijing, China use our transportation services such as public transit, taxi, and jitney (mini-bus operated by private). From transportation point of view a vulnerable group is in this study defined a group of people who can t enjoy same right to access public transit service as general public does. The objective of this paper attempts to explore exiting conditions of vulnerable group in the use of the present public transit system and to build the dial-a-ride service network to solve the daily travel of vulnerable group. For this reason a survey among vulnerable people in the city of Beijing is conducted to get detailed information about transportation needs of their daily activities. Based on this information the potential demand of vulnerable group is predicted. The proposal of building dial-a-ride transportation services is then raised from the following six aspects: budget, vehicle-design, professional training, dispatching service system, policy and publicity. The motivation behind conducting this study is to address the needs to provide transportation service system for vulnerable group and raise awareness of importance to build DAR at local, regional and nationwide levels. The dial-a-ride system can work only when it is embedded in the urban transit system planning. Keywords: dial-a-ride, vulnerable group, public transit, equity

INTRODUCTION The vulnerable group in this study is defined as the group of people who is unable to enjoy same right to access public transit service as general public normally does due to their health condition. In terms of transportation engineering, it is called Transportation Disadvantaged (TD) or transportation vulnerable groups [1]. There are generally two categories of transportation vulnerable groups: physiological vulnerable groups and social vulnerable groups [2].In this study, particularly, the focus is on aged people and disabled people. Based on the Second National Sample Survey on Disabled Groups, the number of disabled people in mainland China is 82.96 million, 6.34% of total population of the country. Among those there are 24.12 million physical disabled people. Meanwhile, the number of aged people is 143 million and it is predicted to be 11.8% of total population by 2020 in our country. According to recently released statistics, there are approximately 200 million transportation vulnerable people in mainland China and this figure will reach to more than 300 million by 2025 based on the study by Huo Yang [3]. In order to meet the increasing requirements of travel for vulnerable group, more convenient as well as human-oriented transportation services are needed. Dial-a-ride, one type of para-transit system, is bore to make up for this need. In general this system can be the complement of public transit. It mainly depends on the mini or medium-sized bus with flexible lines and time schedule. Dial-a-ride system itself can be more flexible so that it can meet special transportation demands as compared to general public transit. LITERATURE REVIEW Originally, dial-a-ride is a kind of Demand Responsive Transport System (DRT). DRT system, unlike the regular public transit system with both fixed time schedule and fixed route, is operated between regular-taxi-mode and regular-bus-mode [4]. Time schedule and routes of DRT vehicles will be optimized by operational center according to the requirements of users. Several dial-a-ride and door-to-door transportation services are available in other developed countries for vulnerable people to enhance their mobility, such as Para-transit Service in California [5]. Intelligent Para-transit service provided by Munich rail station is a good example. The buses in this system are operated on the unfixed routes according to passengers demands such that the connection between the station and the remote interior region has been well established [6]. As a demand-response service dial-a-ride service (DAR) plays an important role in Para-transit system. It can be an effective supplement for transportation system to provide more convenient transportation environment for

users. FIGURE 1 Passengers boarding at DART terminal. In some places such as the United States and Canada, DAR service system has been developed into a relatively high level. DAR system mainly depends on mini buses that can carry passengers with special travel needs. There are two kinds of reservation services provided by DAR system. One is direct access to regional transit (DART) [7], as shown in Figure 1. This kind of service has become a supplement of public transit since it can reach directly to the inner places of the city and is more flexible as compared with regular buses with fixed routes in the low density area. FIGURE 2 DART 102 Southdale/Island Lakes service area map The distribution of DART sites located in the south valley in Winnipeg is shown in Figure 2. It can be seen from this figure that the DART sites have already been so dense that it is powerful enough to constitute a para-transit network. It can be more efficient for the unfixed-route intelligent transportation which meets special requirements of daily transportation, especially in areas with low-density population. As shown in Figure 3 this is a DART transfer service in the region of lower density population. It is known that DART service fills the gaps left by fixed-route public

transportation so that it makes the whole traffic network more substantial. As a consequence of enhanced accessibility, dial-a-ride is more convenient for disabled people to travel around. FIGURE 3 DART neighborhood stop. The other kind of DAR service is curb-to-curb DAR. Specific service according to the passenger s requirement of the starting and the destination points are provided by curb-to-curb DAR. In San Diego, California a private enterprise with a staff of about 7000 located in Sorrento Vally provides curb-to-curb services to communicate a metro station in northern San Diego with Sorrento Vally [4]. Chen Wanhui investigated the travel characteristics of seniors in Taiwan and examined the factors contributing to the degree of willingness to use a demand responsive service (DRS) bus for the elders according to their medical trips [8]. There is no doubt that DAR system provides necessary service of more convenient daily transportation for special group of people. Special service provided by DAR service for vulnerable groups is aimed at making it efficient and reliable to help vulnerable people achieve the expectation of their daily travel needs. The vehicles are specially designed to meet the need for vulnerable people, together with corresponding professional who will be distributed on time. Actually, DAR service system can be considered demand-responsive services for vulnerable groups. The very reason to initiate dial-a-ride system for the vulnerable group is to address the needs to provide separate service for them and raise awareness of importance to build DAR at local, regional and nationwide levels. Moreover, it is very important to enhance the equity in transportation service by providing DAR network incorporated with present public transit system. THE CURRENT CONDICTIONS OF DIAL-A-RIDE SERVICE IN BEIJING In Beijing, dial-a-ride system has not been established so far. Based on official statistics, there are more than 1 million disabled people living in the city of Beijing alone. Although we ve already got some improvements in the provision of public transit service for the vulnerable groups such as installation of special facilities in the

bus, in the subway, and in taxi these services for the vulnerable people only can be found in some special cases such as Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing. As can be seen in the city of Beijing, there are very few disabled people appearing on the street, in the shopping mall, in library, and recreational parks. The direct reason is that there is no convenient conveyance to carry them to access these facilities. The existing public transit can t provide good services for the disable people that make them have to shrink back at public transit facilities. Based on the survey majority of disable people are reluctant to travel for fearing to come across troubles. The first thing they worry about is the transportation. There are some public and private charity-oriented organizations that can provide transportation services for this group of people, but the services generally are provided for a group not for an individual. It has been also learned from the survey that due to lack of convenient transportation service they would rather deal with home-based work than go out to deal with their preferred job. In addition bus operators and taxi drivers refuse to carry them for fear of wasting time and inviting trouble. The detailed information about the current conditions of disable people of Beijing in receiving transportation service will be discussed in the data collection and analysis. Actually, dial-a-ride services have not been considered in Beijing transit systems planning and it is hoped that the service will be incorporated in the urban transit planning for providing transportation services for vulnerable groups such as aged and disable people in future. Transportation professionals as well as all walks of life should realize it is our responsibility to make the disabled people live in a society where they can be treated equally and respectably. FEASIBILITY OF DIAL-A-RIDE CONSTRUCTION IN BEIJING Based on statistics, the number of the disabled in Beijing is up to 1 million that it is 5% of the total registered population of Beijing. As transportation planners and engineers it is one of the most important responsibilities to design and manage transportation system to enable the vulnerable people to enjoy the convenient and accessible transportation services. As discussed above dial-a-ride system is a good system and it should be incorporated in the urban transit planning, design, and management of Beijing. It should be noted that the requirement of the transportation for the vulnerable groups has been greatly increased nowadays. Meanwhile, it is believed that Beijing municipal government has the ability in terms of finance to accomplish the planning, design and construction of dial-a-ride facility. As is known 18 billion RMB ($1=6.1RMB) are invested by the local government every year in public transportation operation, management, and maintenance as subsidy. As complement of public transit dial-a-ride system should enjoy equivalent financial support from municipal government.

Establishing a demand-responsive transportation services to fulfill disabled user s need should be a fundamental task in the transit service planning and overall urban transportation planning. Technology in establishing para-transit system for the vulnerable groups such as DAR system will fill a market gap of public transit and materially benefit disabled group. It is believed that it is necessary and feasible to build dial-a-ride system for vulnerable group in Beijing. This process can be accomplished step-by-step starting from district to district, and finally expanding to the region. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS In order to figure out the travel requirement of vulnerable people, a specially-designed survey is conducted in Beijing by distributing questionnaire with 9 questions in order to focus on the following issues: travel destinations, transportation modes typically used for daily travel, distance for a trip, frequency to make a trip in a week as well as safety problems during trips. This work was accomplished with the help from Beijing Foundation for Disabled Persons. A total of 232 questionnaires were collected and leaving 176 (76%) valid questionnaires to be examined by this study. The survey results and analysis are as follows. Travel destination (purpose) Figure 4 shows the distribution of travel destinations based on the survey. The destinations include supermarket, shopping mall, park, hospital, library, and railway station/airport terminals. According to the survey result, it is recommended to set up more DAR bus stations nearby supermarkets (29%), parks (23%), shopping malls (22%) and hospitals (14%). In addition, it is also should be considered to provide convenient service for vulnerable people to transfer from DAR bus station to other transit modes. Transportation means FIGURE 4 Distribution of Travel Destination As can be seen in Figure 5, bus and subway are still the most popular transportation means for the vulnerable group to accomplish their daily travel.

Therefore, it would be ideal to establish a senior public transit system specially served the vulnerable group like DAR. FIGURE 5 Distribution of transportation modes Factors affecting their use of current transit system There are 6 main reasons that make vulnerable group feel inconvenient in using regular transit as listed in Figure 6. Distance from home to transit station ranks the number one headache for the disable people because the density of transit lines is still low in some areas. The second most inconvenient thing is long waiting time at stations. In general this group of people chooses to travel during off-peak to avoid crowded flow. However, the frequency of transit bus during off-peak keeps low, resulting in the long waiting time. The average waiting time can be from 10 minutes to 20 minutes as indicated in the survey. Asking for help from others FIGURE 6 Factors Affecting Use of Transit In the survey there is a question regarding if disable people would like to ask other people for a ride. Very few disable people are reluctant to turn to others for help as indicated in Figure 7. This reflects the Chinese tradition of not owing to what you can t reciprocate.

FIGURE 7 Distribution of frequency for a ride from others Frequency of travel The frequency of travel in a week is also investigated and the result is shown in Figure 8. From the result it can be seen that 33% of the surveyed travel one to three times in a week and 26% travel 4 to 8 times a week. This is much lower than the average of Beijing that is 2.6 times a day. Safety FIGURE 8 Distribution of frequency of travel Finally, the feelings of safety in the use of public transit are also surveyed and the results are shown in Figure 9. Unfortunately, only 9% of them feel very safe while 25% users feel unsafe in the transit.

FIGURE 9 Distribution of safety level in feel PROPOSALS FOR DIAL-A-RIDE CONSTRUCTION IN BEIJING With the rapid development of economy and improvements in living standard the local government needs to take care of the right and equity of vulnerable group in terms of transportation service. We have the very reason to believe that the vulnerable groups in Beijing receive no equal treatment in receiving transportation services as compared to the general public. The proposals for the construction of DAR system for the vulnerable groups have been presented as follows. (1) Provision of specially-designed vehicles ----- The first thing in building dial-a-ride system is to design special vehicles with professional equipment such as a ladder for wheelchairs to be moved on or off. In addition the interior and the doors of the vehicles should be particularly designed to tailor the special need for vulnerable people to use. Besides, the vehicles can enjoy the same priority in the operation as the regular buses such as bus lanes. (2) Training of operators ---- It is necessary to conduct professional training for the operators to handle and operate the special vehicles to make sure that they can take care of the vulnerable people fully and correctly. Unlike drivers of regular buses the dial-a-ride drivers should have aptitude to deal with unusual situations. For this reason these drivers should receive medical trainings and emergence rescue trainings. (3) Set-up of service platform --- The third thing is to establish DAR service platform for the vulnerable groups by setting management office, opening the service phone lines, and laying out the pick-up (drop-off) places. These places should be chosen and designed with care in order to meet the special requirements of the users. The management office can be set up at community level, district level, regional level, depending on the distribution of vulnerable population. It is believed that DAR service platform will be set under the public transit system and operated in accord with the urban transit planning.

(4) Policy and financial support --- To highlight equity in transit system, it is noted by Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 that the following people are allowed to participate in federal or governmental funded para-transit system service for free: (1) people who are unable to use the public transport system; (2) people who do not have the capacity to access the public transport stations; (3) people with disability or injury who need to use temporary para-transit service. We need to set up a similar policy to guarantee the right of the disabled to use public transit to travel around. The pressing issue in the establishment of dial-a-ride system is to set policies to guarantee the financial support as well as institutional legality in the whole urban transportation system framework. It is hoped that the legal document (something like ADA in USA), together with budget for dial-a-ride only, will be soon issued to dictate the planning and implementation of dial-a-ride system at local and regional levels. (5) Publicity --- Finally, publicizing dial-a-ride service is needed to have the public be aware of the importance of this welfare-based service. The publicity can be made through TV program or radio or commercial activity in order to have public as well as the vulnerable groups know about how to use the service platform and how to make telephone reservation for their planned travel. The core of publicizing dial-a-ride service is to raise awareness of the responsibility of elected officials as well as general public for providing equally-enjoyable transportation services for all. CONCLUSION Although the vulnerable groups in Beijing are quite large, dial-a-ride services have not been established. From observation it is found that the existing public transit of Beijing can t come up with good services for the disable people. For example the buses have not equipped with low deck for wheel chaired person to get on and off. Besides, some subway stations (on the old lines) have no elevators for disable persons to use. As a result most of disable people don t choose public transit for their travel. It is our responsibility to make a call to build transportation system for the vulnerable group to enjoy the convenient services provided by civilized society. Apart from that the group can be treated equally in their choice of travel means just as the general public does. It is believed that dial-a-ride will become a part of our urban public transit systems and function as a demand-response system for fulfilling the travel desire of vulnerable group. Overall, establishment of dial-a-ride is a new thing transportation professionals of Beijing have to try. With great improvement in living standard in the civilized society by observing equity, provision of dial-a-ride system can t be treated as blessing for disable people, but a necessity for this group of people to travel as freely

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