California Partners for Advanced Transportation Technology

This research report is the final deliverable for PATH Task Order 6408: “Improving Mobility through Enhanced Transit Services”. The purpose of this task order is to explore alternative methods of providing transit service to areas with low passenger demand density. This report first presents analytical models for determining optimal headway and line spacing for fixed-route, fixed schedule buses, either with fixed stops or allowing buses to stop anywhere along the route. Next, transit taxi services with either fixed or flexible routes that specifically target focused demand patterns are examined. Potential savings of transit taxi services and flexible routes are quantified. Based on the insights from the theoretical analysis and our survey of real-world practices of providing transit service to areas with low passenger demand density, a pilot program is designed for future field testing of an innovative type of transit taxi operation.