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 95th 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.
FIGURE 4 Distribution of Travel Destination
 Transportation means
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.
FIGURE 6 Factors Affecting Use of Transit
 Asking for help from others
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.
FIGURE 8 Distribution of frequency of travel
 Safety
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
as general public. It should be noted that the objective of establishing a dial-a-ride
system for vulnerable groups is to make vulnerable groups enjoy the same
transportation service as other commuters. It should be the ultimate goal for all
levels of government to build up a society with equity and humanity.
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