Optimal Design of Demand-Responsive Feeder Transit Services with Passengers' Multiple Time Windows and Satisfaction

Optimal Design of Demand-Responsive Feeder Transit Services. (August 2009) Xiugang Li, B.E., Southeast University; M.E., Southeast University; D.E., Southeast University Co-Chairs of Advisory Committee: Dr. Luca Quadrifoglio Dr. Yunlong Zhang The general public considers Fixed-Route Transit (FRT) to be inconvenient while Demand-Responsive Transit (DRT) provides much of the desired flexibility with a door-to-door type of service. However, FRT is typically more cost efficient than DRT to deploy. Therefore, there is an increased interest in flexible transit services including all types of hybrid services that combine FRT and pure DRT. The demand-responsive feeder transit, also known as Demand-Responsive Connector (DRC), is a flexible transit service because it operates in a demand-responsive fashion within a service area and moves customers to/from a transfer point that connects to a FRT network. In this research we develop analytical models, validated by simulation, to design the DRC system. Feeder transit services are generally operated with a DRC policy which might be converted to a traditional FRT policy for higher demand. By using continuous approximations, we provide an analytical modeling framework to help planners and operators in their choice of the two policies. We compare utility functions of the two