Improving Rural Quality of Life by Combining Public Transportation with Demand Responsive Transport Systems

We recommend improving rural quality of life by combining public transport with demand responsive transport systems. To achieve this policy recommendation, we propose the following: (1) Promote the creation of demand responsive transport (DRT) systems that fit well into the region’s or nation’s larger transport strategy and system, are cost effective and sustainable in the long run; (2) Identify and clarify the societal goals that DRT operations are intended to support. Subsidising DRT operations cannot be justified just for their own sake; (3) Define the intended demand intensity to be served with this transport service explicitly; (4) Integrate DRT services with complementary incentive mechanisms that preserve the benefits of the spatial concentration of the population and workplaces; (5) Ensure a reasonable level of long-term public funding for DRT systems right from the planning phase; and (6) Reduce the barriers of entry to the DRT market and develop a service model, enabling the utilisation of excess transport capacity that local SMEs and public institutions as minibus owners may have.