The Harrogate minibus service started operation on 30 October 1972 operating in eight areas as a fixed route minibus diverting on demand onto a number of other roads on request. In practice the number of demands for diversion have amounted to less than 10 per cent of the total patronage. TRRL studies of the system comprised: (1) timing measurements of radio usage; (2) operational observations of boarding and alighting locations and times and details of articles of luggage carried; (3) an on-vehicle survey to ascertain the types of people using the service. The patronage of the service has built up from 500 passengers per week initially to stabilise at around 700 during 1975. From the on-vehicle survey, it was found that 83 per cent of passengers used the service for shopping. Approximately 84 per cent of users were female. Almost half of the users were aged 65 or over and nearly 60 per cent were non car owners. At the time of travel 90 per cent of users did not have a car available to them. The number of users having telephones was high (72 per cent) and approximately 50 per cent previously travelled by stage-carriage bus. (Author/publisher).
Samenvatting