UC Irvine Institute of Transportation Studies

The Orange County Transit District (OCTD) has operated a community service transit program in the City of Orange, California since May of 1975. Because of an adverse court ruling and a subsequent successful appeal, this service underwent four modal changes. These four modes provide a unique opportunity for comparison. In order of implementation, they were: a demand-responsive Dial-A-Bus, a three-loop fixed route bus system, a two-loop fixed route bus system, and a demand-responsive Dial-A-Taxi system. 

Five performance indicators were used for the comparison, and the two demand-responsive systems were found more efficient and effective than the fixed route systems. The Dial-A-Taxi system, during its first three months of operation, compared very favorably to Dial-A-Bus. In addition, the Dial A-Taxi system continues to show monthly improvements on each indicator. 

There may be limited transferability of the information gained in this study, but the data suggests that Dial-A-Taxi can be very efficient and effective in serving cities or suburban areas with population densities of 5000 or less per square mile.