Demand Responsive Service (DRS)


DRS is a simple concept.
Step 1:  An express bus drops off riders at a work cell transit center.
Taxi-vans and mini-buses wait with no preset route or destination.

drop off by express bus at TC
Step 2:  Riders line up at six circulator route markers.

Step 3: Vans are dispatched to take small groups. Mini-buses take larger groups. 
The six circulator routes fan out from the TC (transit center) to all parts of the cell.

Riders waiting at circulator route markers

Since all rides are requested electronically, a dispatcher knows how many people are there and how long they have waited.  
Wait time would average 5 minutes. 
You still get a van if you are the only one at a route marker and have been waiting 12 minutes.  
If no one is waiting then no van is sent, and no cost is incurred.

About 16,000 taxi van trips would be required per day at a cost of $60 million per year.
This would be paid for by Capital Metro out of the $160 million a year they collect from the penny sales tax.
Riders pay ten cents a mile.
The large number of van trips, 16,000, is based on running a trip every 5-12 minutes for 16 hours a day.
This means the maximum wait at a transfer is 12 minutes.
For many existing Capital Metro routes the maximum wait time is 30 minutes.

Taxi drivers have to be able to run all routes.
Taxi driver Kate picks up the East (E) route riders at 8 pm
DRS late night

Later that Night
Later that night, at 8:30, Kate picks up the Northwest (NW) riders.
DRS late night 2

DRS with a dispatcher aided by computer display:
Take the above concept and add electronic ride request.  If each rider enters a request, then the
dispatcher can see how long each rider has waited and how many are waiting for each route.
The single red waiter at route NE has waited almost 12 minutes so he is the first to get a van. 
Then SW gets a van next because the two orange waiters have waited 6 to 8 minutes.
With 16 waiters route W is third to get a vehicle.
Dispatch Display

Transit Center Layout
The transit center would be an enclosed, air conditioned space with other amenities. Riders would wait inside a gate for a circulator route trip.
They would pay fare electronically to enter the gate.
Transit center floor plan

Entering Ride Requests

Two types of ride requests can be made at a TC: new location and default location.

Since most riders will be going to the same work place every day, they will be making requests for their default location.
All they need to do is scan their transit card, on a card reader, when entering their usual gate.
The system will assume they want to go to their default location (regular job site).
The transit card will have an RFID tag inside it.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) cards have been used for years, on security badges,
for people to open doors on secure buildings.
The transit card gains them access to the gate by activating a turnstile.
Cash would not be required. Instead riders would have the fare deducted from their account.

Dedicated gates would be required for each circulator route.
When riders enter that gate and scan their cards on the way in, the dispatcher can see
how many are going out on that route and how long they have waited. 
The gate could have a serpentine walkway, with seats, that would preserve the waiting order, yet still allow riders to sit while they waited.
Serpentine walkways are used at airports and amusement parks to compact a long line into a smaller area.

The other possibility is that the rider is going to a new location.
They will have to enter a ride request on a ride request terminal.

A touch screen map display on the terminal would enable riders to search for locations.
They would be able to zoom in on different areas of the city, or they could do a text based search.
They could type in “mall” and get a list of all the shopping malls. Then just pick from this list.
Once they have picked a location the next step is to print a ticket.
The ticket is a slip of paper with details on which gates to wait in and which TCs they will go through.
It would also have the date, destination, price, and the rider’s name.



Waiting For Your Ride
Twenty riders would pay fare electronically to enter the gate and then board quickly, through both doors, when the bus arrives.
This would be like a subway. No fare collection would be required at the door to the bus, speeding up boarding.
Riders would be able to sit while waiting at the gate.
They could view an overhead display to see when their bus, or van, is due to arrive.


From Job to TC
The DRS process outlined above would also work in reverse.
Riders at their work locations would call in ride requests in the afternoon when they want to get from job to TC.
Riders would pick from a menu of preselected pickup times and places.
On most days it would be the same pickup point so the system would “know” the callers default pickup stop.
An electronic voice would ask the caller to confirm their name and that they wished to be picked up at the usual time and place.
So most ride requests made by cell phone would be as simple as calling a 7 digit number,
listening to a brief message, and then confirming the arrangement by hitting a single key. 


The taxi-bus in Rimouski, Quebec operates in a similar fashion. All trips are by taxi cab.
All rides are reserved by specifying a pre-designated pickup point and time.
The service averages 2.7 riders per cab trip.


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