This paper describes how setting up and operating a specialized service for the handicapped involves an array of different decisions and trade-offs. For example, planners must decide whether to serve only severely disabled personsùthose for whom regular transit is physically impossible to useùor to extend eligibility to moderately handicapped and able-bodied elderly persons as well. Planners must delimit the geographic range of service andthe network of available destinations with that range; and service levelsmust be established, such as advance booking requirements and fares. Suchdecisions inevitably involve trade-offs and it is trade-offs of this kindthat usually define the plannerÆs forecasting needs. This paper describesa model that forecasts costs under a range of service levels. The examples given hold for localities with average populations and wage costs. Results will thus vary substantially in individual localities.
Samenvatting