Image credit: Vinita Nawathe
UWE Bristol has been successful in receiving funding from UKRI and their Creating Opportunities Evaluation Development Fund to look at the role of Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) in connecting people to opportunities in less densely populated areas.
The project, led by Professor of Travel Behaviour, Kiron Chatterjee, and Research Fellow, Dr Eda Beyazit Ince, will assess DRT’s impact in unlocking educational, employment and social opportunities for residents in rural areas. DRT is being considered as an alternative to traditonal timetabled buses in many areas which have seen falling passenger numbers and cuts in services over a long period of time. It offers the promise of a more convenient service taking people where they want and when they want.
UWE Bristol is joined in the project by the University of Leeds who will provide economics expertise via Associate Professor, Daniel Johnson. The research will focus on DRT schemes operating in Essex, Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire and the county councils for these three areas are project partners along with CoMoUK (national charity for shared transport) and Transport East (host of Rural Mobility Centre of Excellence).
The project will focus on areas exhibiting multiple dimensions of deprivation, such as low employment rates, low income, prolonged health problems and low life expectancies. The project has three main objectives:
1. To apply an innovative, participatory methodological framework to measure the impact of public transport on life-defining economic, social and health outcomes.
2. To estimate the social value of DRT schemes and bus services more generally in areas of rural deprivation and their contribution to reducing place-based inequalities.
3. To inform policy in relation to the future of DRT and broader public transport services
In each of the DRT operating areas in Essex, Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire the project will carry out surveys and interviews with residents to find out whether they use the DRT, what they use it for and the value they place on its availability to their community.
Professor Kiron Chatterjee commented:
DRT is not a cheap option for providing a public transport option to areas otherwise lacking public transport. But it could offer a lifeline for those unable to drive and make the difference in them getting to college, a job, a health appointment or simply getting out of the house to meet other people. There is a need to understand the social value of DRT to put against the cost of provision and assess whether it is a worthwhile investment of public money.
Dr Ed Beyazit Ince commented:
We are excited to investigate the less explored areas of transport provision through the case of DRT, uncovering the wide range of opportunities it may offer beyond transport benefits only.
