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60% of Regio-Flink journeys are used as feeder services to and from the station.
The offer increases motorized traffic by a factor of 3.4 for potentially pedestrian distances.
Use depends to a large extent on possession of an annual public transport pass, and less on environmental awareness.
Barriers to use include owning a vehicle and restrictions on what is available.
Summary of this study
Since the revival of demand responsive transportation after 2010, many failed and discontinued initiatives have been observed. The problems range from inadequate technology and poorly defined spatial and temporal conditions to a lack of knowledge about user preferences and low ridership. Funding also plays a role here, as many sustainable mobility initiatives come to an end as soon as subsidies run out.
This research examines the use and impact of an app-based demand responsive transportation service in a suburban/suburban environment based on data collected from users and non-users of a newly introduced service in Austria. The results show that the service workswell as a feeder for rail transportation and receives positive user reviews. However, there are concerns about a limited service area, short operating hours and low utilization rates.
The applied "hybrid choice model" shows that both the frequency of car use and the possession of a public transport ticket have a significant influence on the frequency of use of demand-responsive transport services. However, this behavior is independent of latent attitudes towards different modes of transport. In addition, the service is offered at no extra charge to annual pass holders, which leads to side effects such as a shift from active mobility to on-demand transportation and the generation of entirely new trips.
Based on the information provided by respondents on alternative modes of transport that they would have used if the on-demand transport service did not exist, the research team found that the use of on-demand transport services generates significantly more motorized traffic than if the service did not exist. This study provides policy recommendations aimed at increasing ridership and minimizing unintended side effects.
Key findings of this study
- Effective feeder function to rail: In the suburban/suburban environment, the service successfully acts as a feeder, with around 60% of journeys being used to reach the station or to get home from there. This strengthens regular public transport by offering an attractive solution for the "first and last mile".
- Increase in motorized traffic: Research shows that the service generates about 3.4 times more motorized trips overall than would be present in the transport system without the service. Since around 61.5% of users stated that they would otherwise have walked the route, the service primarily replaces active mobility with motorized trips.
- Ticket ownership as a decisive usage factor: Owning an annual public transport pass is the strongest predictor of frequent use, as the service is integrated for this group at no extra charge. In contrast, latent attitudes, such as environmental protection, have no statistically significant influence on the decision to use the service.
- Car availability as the biggest barrier: The availability of a car is the main obstacle for non-users, followed by spatial and temporal restrictions of the service area. Nevertheless, active users rate the quality of the service very positively in areas such as punctuality and reliability, in some cases even better than urban role models such as the Hamburg service MOIA.