Public Transport Versus Demand Responsive Transport Services in (Extremely) Low Demand Areas: The Case of the Sicilian Hinterland

Abstract

As of March 2020, with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Italians are moving less to get to work, but the car remains the preferred means of transport. In general, there has been a sharp drop in demand for public transport. In order to overcome this critical situation, it is necessary not only to ensure constant sanitation and control on board to mitigate contagion, but also to guarantee a certain flexibility in transport services. In fact, greater flexibility in the service makes it easier to reach people and places that are not part of the daily routes or timetables of travelers. Demand responsive transport (DRT) is the flexible solution that fits into the space between buses and taxis. Through the use of minibuses, DRT services provide a “social” aspect to offer niche services to users with limited mobility (disabled or elderly). They also connect areas defined as weak demand areas, which are not only peripheral areas but also those areas that have been characterized by reduced connections due to the recent pandemic. This paper focuses on a city in the Sicilian hinterland and presents a comparison of the current public transport service connecting the train station with the area of the historic centre and the expansion areas with a hypothetical DRT service. The analysis was conducted by applying an analytical model characterized by a cost function of the transport operator and a cost function of the PT user for each of the services. Assessing the transport cost as the sum of the costs received by the service provider and the user makes it possible to analyze the social and the results provide a basis for better planning of public mobility services and thus an increase in sustainable mobility.