Rural Demand Responsive Transport Current Developments and Analysis of a Case Study in an Italian Inner Area

Over time, a car-centered mobility system has contributed to the negative externali-ties that can be observed today in both urban and rural areas: congestion of transport infrastructures, air and noise pollution, reduced urban space for pedestrians and cyclists, lack of parks, etc. All this has led policy makers to find solutions to shift citizens from cars to public transport and other sustainable modes (walking and cycling). While in urban areas, traditional public transport is often an already widespread and effective service that only needs to be transformed to build user confidence, in rural and mountainous contexts, where low transport demand and long distances make it economically unviable, it needs to be integrated or completely replaced by innovative forms of mobility. One of the most valid solutions in this regard is on-demand transport technology, which allows transport providers to reduce their costs by rationalizing the supply (e.g. higher vehicles’ load factor) and population of these areas to improve their accessibility to public transport and abandon the use of car. Over time, research has been done extensively in academic literature on the application of this technology in urban areas, but little has been undertaken in rural contexts: this work aims to contribute to research in this field by studying the technical characteristics of a specific case study, in order to provide decision-makers with useful information to counter the phenomena of depopulation and economic and social isolation of these territories. First, this book provides a comprehensive literature review aimed at understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the DRT service in general and in its application in rural areas: from the description of its historical development, the close relationship between the diffusion of this tool and the phases of technological prog-ress emerges. The central chapters of this work deal with the planning of some DRT services in the inner area of Antola-Tigullio (Liguria Region): this work, carried out after an analysis of the socio-demographic data and the travel behavior of the population, helped to identify the best routes, time slots, and target user groups to experiment with DRT service. After 5 months of experimentation, it was possible to carry out an ex-post analysis of the initial results thanks to the data provided by the local Public Transport Authority (PTA), commissioner of the study. The results of this work, obtained from the study of the literature and the analysis of a single case study, are multiple and provide useful indications to policy makers and transport providers for the implementation of DRT services in hard-to-reach areas with low transport demand, capable of truly satisfying the mobility needs of the inhabitants by favoring the use of public transport and slowing down the processes of depopulation and economic marginalization affecting these contexts.