DRT Accessibility Tool User Guide

Details

• Alternative Title:
  DRT Accessibility Tool and Sample Brownsville Tool
• Creators:
  LaMondia, Jeffrey ; Ferdous, Nazneen ; Bhat, Chandra R.
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Texas at Austin. Center for Transportation Research
• Corporate Contributors:
  Texas Department of Transportation
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Accessibility Data Collection Finance Guides To Information Low Income Groups Manuals Mobility Persons With Disabilities Policy Transportation Disadvantaged Persons Transportation Planning

  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  5-578-01
• Resource Type:
  Manual
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Texas
• Corporate Publisher:
  University of Texas at Austin. Center for Transportation Research
• Abstract:
  Demand Response Transit (DRT) is a critical form of transportation for mobility-impaired, low income, and small/ medium-sized communities. This type of service transports riders on demand. Unfortunately, DRT systems face many challenges that restrict how well they can serve their community, including limited funding, understaffing, aging fleets, a lack of technical support, a lack of quantification of level of service standards, and limited modeling/planning practices. This guide discusses a unique DRT Accessibility Tool developed for the Texas Department of Transportation that addresses these challenges by determining how well a DRT system serves its riders and the most efficient ways to improve this service. The DRT Accessibility Tool, which is developed in Microsoft Access based on DRT travel logs, service characteristics and surveys from Brownsville, Texas, uses a system of models to simulate actual daily DRT travel patterns. The DRT Accessibility Tool is transferable, practical, and valuable for all small and medium sized communities. The tool utilizes service fleet and region information that all system operators already have, and it is designed to be applicable to demand response systems of any size and location. Ultimately, DRT system operators can use the Accessibility Tool in two ways. First, they can evaluate their current accessibility levels for various combinations of population groups, times of day, and travel purposes. Second, the Accessibility Tool allows system operators to undertake “what if?” scenarios to evaluate changes in fleet characteristics (supply), population demographics (demand), and service areas (scope). Similarly, system operators can predict (and anticipate) future needs of their riders by using the tool to analyze the impact of changes in population demographics. These results have the potential to inform important public transportation planning, budgetary, and policy decisions.
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8a1cb48103da2002c009782ca13dae2c1499e7d7dd102527787d4865721593509cbdfda41c4e439f80216e24c2c8b216af700f32042a19a220dffd205a0061a4
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/86580/dot_86580_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 12.76 MB ]