Local Authority administered Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) schemes have experienced an increase in numbers in England and Wales in recent years. Insufficient research however has been undertaken to date into the nature of these schemes and their performance which makes it difficult to predict their future role. As such, a survey was undertaken in the United Kingdom (UK) in order to collect data on the background, operation and performance of these DRT schemes. This paper reports the findings from that survey. It found that DRT schemes are often designed in an attempt to tackle social problems caused by poor accessibility, that they take time to become established, to achieve their objectives and to reach an acceptable performance with respect to subsidy levels. The paper concludes that in the right place, at the right time DRT has the potential to offer a valuable approach to dealing with social problems.
Abstract