TRANSPORT and ROAD R ESEARCH LABORATORY

Department of the Environment Department of Transport

TRRL SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT 828

MONITORING DEMAND-RESPONSIVE TRANSPORT FOR DISABLED PEOPLE: THE READIBUS EXAMPLE

by

Margaret J Heraty (Transport Consultant)

The work described in this Report was carried out under contract to the Transport and Road Research Laboratory, but the views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Transport

and Road Research Laboratory, nor of the Department of the Environment, or of the Department of Transport

Human and Social Factors Division Safety and Transportation Department

Transport and Road Research Laboratory Crowthorne, Berkshire

1984 ISSN 0305--1315

Abstract

1.

.

.

.

C O N T E N T S

Introduction

1.1 Transport needs of the disabled

1.2 Special service provisions

1.2.1 Eligibility

1.2.2 Trips undertaken

1.2.3 Funding and management

1.2.4 Philosophy of service provision

1.3 Monitoring of special services

The Readibus Service

2.1 Background to the service

2.2 Operating characteristics

2.3 Passenger and trip characteristics

2.4 Problems experienced and consultants' findings

2.5 Cost effectiveness and operating indices

Use of indices in suggesting service improvements

3.1 Parameters for assessing improvements to the existing service

3.2 The effectiveness of alternative types of service

3.3 Radical alternatives for transport provision

General lessons

4.1 The need for a realistic assessment of capacity and demand

4.2 The need to tailor the funding mechanism to the needs of the service

4.3 The need to establish efficient work practices

4.4 Choice of equipment and method of organisation

4.5 Personnel aspects

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Ownership of the Transport Research Laboratory was transferred from the Department of Transport to a subsidiary of

• the Transport Research Foundation on 1 St April 1996.

This report has been reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO. Extracts from the text may be reproduced, except for commercial purposes, provided the source is acknowledged.

5. Summary of findings

6. Acknowledgements

7. References

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© CROWN COPYRIGHT 1984 Extracts from the text may be reproduced, except for

eommercial purposes, provided the source is acknowledged

MONITORING DEMAND-RESPONSIVE TRANSPORT FOR DISABLED PEOPLE: THE READIBUS EXAMPLE

ABSTRACT

This report is based on a study into the operations and cost-effectiveness of a special bus service for people in Reading with permanent or temporary disabilities. The background to the provision of special services is discussed, including the different approaches to service planning which may be used. The use of operating indices in analysing and improving service efficiency is described and discussed. Alternative ways of providing transport for the disabled are analysed in the context of the Readibus operation. General lessons are drawn which may be applicable to similar services elsewhere. In the report, reference is made not only to Readibus but also to earlier services in North America and more recently-established schemes in Britain.

1. INTRODUCTION

This report concerns the monitoring of the development of special transport services for people unable to use

conventional public transport through some form of permanent or temporary disability. It focuses on operational

and cost-effectiveness aspects of such services. The basis of the analysis is a TRRL-funded project executed in

1982 to provide specific operationally-oriented recommendations to one particular service: The Voluntary Service

Council's Readibus in Reading, Berkshire (Heraty and Fowler, 1982). The lessons learned during that project are

expanded in this report to include broader consideration of the most appropriate type o f monitoring, the uses for

which it is needed and the best ways in which it may be carried out, for this growing but diverse field of transport.

A parallel study of the passengers on the Readibus service and the benefits they derive was undertaken by Reading

University on behalf of the TRRL (Bowlby, Kirby and Swann, 1984).

1.1 Transport needs of the disabled

Estimates of the number of people unable to use conventional public transport services because of some

form of disability vary, but one estimate suggests that they form nationally up to 10 per cent o f the population,

or about five times the number of registered disabled (Meadows, 1983). Many of these combine some form of

walking disability (such as arthritis) with being in higher age groups; one estimate suggests that 50 per cent of the

users of the existing special transport schemes under discussion are aged 75 or more (Meadows, 1983). The size of

the relevant sector o f the population will therefore grow as the national population ages; current population

estimates show that the number of people in the UK over the age of 75 will increase by an eighth between 1981

and 2001 (Central Statistical Office, 1983).

Many of the disabled people using special services conform to a common stereotype of an elderly person

living alone on a restricted income, with walking problems and ancillary disabilities such as poor heating or sight,

and having only a limited expectation of the amount of personal travel possible or desirable. However, this does

not present a complete picture of the potential total market for special transport services. For example, the young

disabled, many of whom work, and wheelchair users are two (partially overlapping) categories whose demands for

trip-making and vehicle provision are different in nature from those of the stereotype.

When people who are temporarily handicapped (for example, women at a difficult stage in pregnancy or

people in plaster casts) are included in the considerations of the total market for special services, it becomes

apparent that the needs of this market are not dissimilar from those of the population as a whole. Even those

elderly people who have been previously regarded as near-housebound may have had their travel horizons limited

only by the problems of using conventional public transport; the introduction of accessible special services may

generate desires to travel significantly more frequently than formerly. This, and the fact that estimates of the

potential market for such services vary, makes it difficult to assess the likely demand for special accessible

transport for disabled people.

However it is clear that people unable to use conventional public transport desire to make trips covering a

fuU range of activities. In particular, independent 'optional trips' for social and leisure activities can be pursued

once the traveller has the confidence to use the special services in the same way as the able-bodied use regular

public transport. In many cases, the ability to undertake optional trips independently is of more importance to

the well-being of a disabled person than to the able-bodied, and therefore transport services become the catalyst

for a great improvement in total quality of life.

1.2 Special service provisions

There has historically been a number of different types of special transport provision for the disabled,

through voluntary, charity-assisted and social service schemes catering for a limited range of journeys; typical

examples include group travel to day centres or lunch clubs, and trips to hospitals for out-patient appointments

or to visit in-patients. However, demand-responsive services for independent travel to wide-ranging destinations

for any trip purpose are a new development in Britain, although similar schemes have been in operation in North

America since the mid 1970s.

In parallel, and with the momen tum enhanced by the International Year of Disabled People in 1981, a

number of accessibility improvements to conventional public transport are in the planning or testing stage; most

notable are the development of the CR6 replacement for the FX4 'London taxi ' to carry most models of wheel-

chairs conveniently and securely, and a variety o f modifications to standard buses to reduce step heights and

improve hand rail design. Work at British Leyland and the Cranfield Institute of Technology has been undertaken

in conjunction with T R R L to improve bus design for disabled people and increase the potential market for

conventional buses (Brooks, Ruffel-Smith and Ward, 1974; Brooks, Edwards, Fraser, Levis and Johnson, 1980;

Oxley and Benwell, 1983). To date, this work has resulted in the widespread introduction of new designs of bus

with improved features for the elderly and handicapped, such as lower entry steps. In some areas, for example

Sheffield, inexpensive modifications to existing vehicles have been made in the form of the BL 'kneeling bus' and

the 'split step bus' ; these vehicles are accessible to many of the people who have difficulty negotiating conventional

bus steps. New facilities, such as the Tyne and Wear Metro and the London Docklands l ight Railway, are being

designed to be accessible to the disabled, but retroactive actions on existing facilities can be more difficult and

costly to implement.

The development of demand-responsive transport for the disabled has followed the interest in the last two

decades in dial-a-fide public transport services, and parallels the growth in community transport of all types in the

1980s. Some of the operating techniques learned from dial-a-ride can be applied to special demand-responsive

transport. However there is a difference in that the latter provides a combination of a transport and a social

service; the wide-ranging benefits accruing from the provision of transport to the disabled are obtained at a

financial cost/revenue ratio for the operator which would be unsupportable in a conventional service..

By the middle of 1983 there were about 35 demand-responsive transport schemes for the disabled operating

in Britain, out of several hundred communi ty transport services of all kinds. The operating methods and objectives

o f the schemes are varied in the following respects:

2

(a) the criteria for determining who is eligible to use them;

(b) the trips for which they cater - both in terms of destination location and trip purpose;

(c) the methods of funding, managing and staffing the schemes;

(d) the philosophy of transport provision, which is reflected by operating practices such as booking methods,

carriage of groups and escorts, flexibility of timing and routeing to match the passengers' specific requests.

1.2.1 Eligibi l i ty. The services operating are restricted firstly to people living within the defined catchment

areas of each scheme. The criteria for use of the services then range between two extremes. For example, the taxi

scheme operating in Southwark and some other London Boroughs is restricted to those in receipt o f a mobili ty

allowance or in possession of a doctor's certificate that the person cannot use public transport because of

permanent disability but can use a 'London taxi'. In contrast, some schemes restrict the types of use that may be

made by mobility allowance holders, on the grounds that they are already catered for financially ~. The widest

availability seems to be that of Readibus, which can be used by anyone themselves claiming temporary or

permanent disability rendering the use of conventional public transport difficult or impossible. (It is worth noting

that most Readibus users would qualify for free bus travel but choose to pay fares on Readibus rather than

travelling free of charge, but with difficulty, on conventional public transport).

Wheelchair-bound passengers are in practice restricted in the use they can make of schemes based on

volunteers' cars or taxis (before the specially-designed new CR6 cab is readily available), and where a mixed fleet

is operated the availability of specialised vehicles constrains the number of wheelchairs which may be carried.

Conversely, when all the vehicles operating the service can carry wheelchairs, these can form a significant propor-

tion of the ridership. An example of the way in which eligibility criteria themselves determine the mix of passengers

is shown by comparing Readibus with Camden Dial-A-Ride. People in wheelchairs form between 15 and 30 per

cent of passengers on Readibus but 70 per cent on Camden Dial-A-Ride, which has less wide eligibility criteria and

thus has a higher proportion of people in wheelchairs amongst its users.

1.2.2 Trips undertaken. There are no cases on record of restrictions being imposed by the organisers of

special-vehicle services 'ranking' the priority of trips, but some volunteer car schemes will only serve 'worthy '

causes and this is ~ilso the case with some of the North American special services. However, the availability of

other forms of transport, for example for hospital visits and trips to day care centres, results in at least one service

(Wythenshawe Mobile in Manchester) excluding these from the trips offered. Some of the taxi-based services

exclude regular work trips (especially by mobility allowance holders). More generally, When there is no restriction,

the alternatives available render the special services likely to carry a high level of optional trips, once the potential

passengers have accepted the feasibility of their undertaking both the trips and the destination activities themselves.

The destinations served vary from the pick-up catchment area of the service only (as is broadly the case for

Readibus) to a much wider range of locations; for example, Camden Dial-A-Ride in London will pick up within

the Borough and take passengers to anywhere within the North and South Circular Roads, plus Heathrow Airport.

1.2.3 Funding and management. Readibus is funded by the county and Borough Councils and an

Urban Aid grant. Several of the London schemes have obtained support from the Greater London Council, and

more have submitted applications. Other schemes are funded through the Voluntary Service Councils (which are

themselves in receipt of local authority funding), Metropolitan County Departments of Social Services or Area

Health Authorities. The management groups or committees for the services generally reflect the nature of the

funding.

3

Stafffmg is typically with full-time paid administrative and dispatch staff. The drivers and assistants range

from volunteers, who are paid expenses only, to full time salaried staff, in some cases supported by the Manpower

Services Commission, through the Youth Opportunities Programme or other job-creation schemes.

1 . 2 .4 Philosophy of service provision. The basis of special service provision is that the disabled have an

equal right to the able-bodied for mobility and thus have a right o f access to public transport. The broad aim is

usually to combine a needs-based approach to transport planning with a reduction in the sti~aatisation of the

disabled which is believed to have taken place under the previous voluntary and social services schemes. The

philosophy of many of the services is thus that they should provide a substitute for public transport and not an

improvement on it, except specifically in relation to accessibility, safety, comfort and other areas which are

relevant to the special nature of the passengers carried. However in the case of dial-a-ride schemes, this extends to

providing a door-to-door service.

It is not generally expected that the service would be equivalent to that of a private chauffeur-driven car,

although the subsidised taxi services are an exception to this. In practice, however, the diffuse nature of the trips

made has in many cases led to only one passenger at a t ime being carried directly door-to-door, thus providing a

chauffeur-type service with relatively large costs per passenger trip. Consequently, a number of schemes have a

secondary objective of enabling the disabled to travel independently, with the longer-term hope that some will

transfer to accessible conventional public transport or CR6 taxi services, once they have the confidence to do so

and such vehicles are in operation.

Most services appear to carry escorts or passengers accompanying the disabled person. However the

availability of the service to larger groups is more variable between schemes, even though the group services

offered by a community transport scheme are often the foundation of a more specialised service for the disabled.

The rationale for discouraging group travel is not clear in all cases, but it appears to be the desire to cater for as

many individual journeys as possible, rather than one journey for several people. Group travel on dial-a-ride

services occurs where a 'many-to-one' service is offered and all passengers are taken to the same destination.

Where capacity is in short supply, equality of access to the scheme is frequently attempted by means of

trips being bookable only on the day prior to travel, thereby preventing the system being booked for several trips

by one individual at a time. However, this requires telephones to be used for booking services, which in turn deters

those potential passengers who have no telephone, or who find telephoning difficult. The methods employed and

the results obtained from whatever booking system is selected appear to be major areas of discussion amongst the

operators and to be the only significant items of dissatisfaction to the users.

1.3 Monitoring of special services

It is highly desirable that the use and provision of the services be monitored in order to plan and develop

the schemes in line with demand and, further, to maintain an optimum level of efficiency and use of resources.

In the majori ty of schemes, some funds are from local or central government, so there is the requirement for

f'mancial audit, and this needs to be supplemented with some information on levels of use when grant

applications are renewed.

Except for Readibus, the selection and installation of an appropriate way of monitoring has not been a

priority of most o f the schemes, although the National Advisory Unit for Community Transport is starting to

collect some comparable basic data for each service. Performance indicators used for conventional public

t ransport are not wholly appropriate to special services, because these services yield a large number of tangible

4

and intangible benefits to the users outside purely transport considerations but have a very low revenue:cost ratio.

Cost-benefit analysis would also be difficult because of the unquantifiable nature of some of the benefits

obtained, and the high cost of obtaining the necessary data.

The most important issue appears to be: are the services meeting their objectives as well as they might? In

most respects this can be asked alternatively as: are they being as cost-effective as possible? During the research,

methods of analysing the way in which resources are used to achieve service objectives were developed in order to

assist the Readibus operation to meet better the ridership, revenue and cost targets.

2. THE R E A D I B U S S E R V I C E

2.1 Background to the service

The Readibus scheme was the prototype British transport service for disabled people. It was started by the

Reading Voluntary Services Council (VSC) in October t981. The Department of the Environment, under the

1981-82 Urban Programme, provided 75 per cent grant-aid for a five-year period of operations to the Reading

Borough Council, whose Transport Committee administer the grant and provide supplementary financing.

Subsequently the service has also been funded by Berkshire County Council. Table 1 shows the proportion of

funds provided from different sources.

The objects o f the scheme were defined as follows:

(a) ' to provide an experimental scheme for the transport of disabled people within the Borough o f Reading

for the individual purposes of those disabled.'

(b) 'to assess over the period of the scheme the impact of such a scheme on the lives of disabled people and

its potential as a model scheme for other areas.'

Thus the monitoring of the service was in itself an objective of the operation. In addition to the short-term TRRL-

funded project to assist with operations (Heraty and Fowler, 1982), the use of the scheme was monitored on a

more detailed and long-term basis by Reading University under a TRRL contract (Bowlby, Kirby and Swarm,

1984).

TABLE 1

Proportion of Readibus funds provided from different sources in each year of operation

Funding source 1981./82 1982/83 1983/84 % % %

Urban Aid/Reading Borough Council 61 45 41

Reading Borough Council Direct grant - 30 22

63 Subtotal

Manpower Services Commission Community Enterprise Programme

Berkshire County Council

Fares

61

32

7

75

20

5

33

4

Total 100 100 100

2.2 Operating characteristics

Readibus was set up with four minibuses operating on a demand-responsive basis to provide a door-to-door

service within Reading for people classifying themselves as being unable to use conventional public transport.

Disabled passengers could be accompanied by other 'escorting' able-bodied travellers between the same points.

The area served is indicated broadly by Figure 1 and includes Reading Borough and parts of Newbury and

Wokingham Districts.

The vehicles are based on Mercedes petrol-engined chassis, with minibus bodies equipped with tail lifts and

radios. The radios are rarely used to control the driver's route or workload, but are used mainly for communicating

information about delays and breakdowns. The vehicles are capable of carrying 12 passengers but are adjustable

over a wide range of combinations through to four passengers and four wheelchairs, as all the seats can be moved.

Most commonly they are laid out to cater for seven passengers and two wheelchairs.

Initially four drivers were engaged with finance from Urban Aid. Subsequently an additional four were taken

on with some help from the Manpower Services Commission; these four were later funded by Berkshire County

Council. Four on-board assistants were obtained through the Youth Opportunities Programme, but these have

subsequently been phased down to one. Three (subsequently four) full-time administrative and dispatch staff were

employed. At the time of the research and analysis there were six drivers, four assistants and four full-time staff.

Office accommodation was provided within the VSC offices in the centre of Reading. A vehicle maintenance

contract was drawn up with the Transport Division of Berkshire County Council, at whose premises on the out-

skirts o f Reading the minibuses are also parked at night. The service operates between the hours of 0800 and 2300,

seven days a week, with variable numbers of buses available at any time according to the shift pattern operated by

the crews.

Fares were initially set at 20p single, 40p return up to one mile, 35p single, 60p return over 1 mile straight-

line distance. At that level the fares were comparable to those charged on scheduled buses, although many of the

Readibus passengers would qualify for free bus travel on the grounds of age but are not exempted from Readibus

fares. Fares have subsequently been slightly increased overall and raised significantly for longer journeys, with

fare zones at up to 1 mile, 1 to 4 miles and over 4 miles; return fares in these zones were 55p, 85p and £1.15

respectively in September 1983.

Bookings are made by telephone on the day before the passenger wishes to travel. A card index of previous

users is consulted as soon as the caller identifies him/herself, to determine the home address, the nature of the

disability and any specific passenger characteristics which might be relevant. New users have relevant information

recorded at the time of the first booking. The desired trip time and destination are recorded directly onto the bus

running schedule for the most appropriate vehicle, depending on the location of the fleet at the originating time.

In some cases the time can be adjusted to suit other trips which have already been booked, in order to carry more

than one passenger at a t ime over a broadly similar route. This adjustment of demand to resources extends

occasionally to a different shopping destination being offered as an alternative to not being able to travel at all.

Once the schedules are completed, drivers' forms are completed for each passenger trip, showing origin,

destination, time, passenger characteristics and the appropriate fare. During 1983 it is expected that all this

process, except the allocation of trips to vehicles, will become computerised with on-line terminals allowing two

dispatchers to operate simultaneously. On a sample of days the drivers themselves are requested to note on their

individual trip forms the details o f mileage run for each trip and times of arrival and departure at the pick-up and

set-down points. At the t ime of the analysis these details were being recorded every day.

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The design of the various forms used evolved as the service developed and have become much more easy to

use and analyse than they had been initially. The internal and external monitoring and research which was applied

to the service, being the British prototype, called for a considerable amount of detailed information to be

collected and analysed. Maintenance of day-to-day operations, service development and the external monitoring

requirements had different priorities for allocation of staff time to tasks; these priorities were not always easily

defined.

Demand rose rapidly to meet the capacity that could be provided. The capacity was constrained to some

extent initially by lack of experience by drivers and in booking, resulting in sub-optimal allocations of trips

between the running schedules for individual buses and over-generous allowances for driving time both with

passengers and between calls. Some aspects of the logistics of bus garaging and operation reduced the proportion

of each shift which could be allocated to bus operation on the road. Furthermore the initial allowances for

boarding and alighting times were found to be generous: in practice these averaged 3 - 4 minutes and 2 - 3

minutes respectively. These averages include erratic and lengthy periods taken to tie down wheelchairs with the

types of fixings originally used, thus the boarding and alighting times for ambulant passengers proved to be

extremely short.

As experience has been gained with the operation, and some changes in practices have been introduced, the

effective capacity has risen. As illustrated in Table 2, weekly trips (excluding passengers escorting disabled

passengers) rose from around 225 a week at the start and about 290 a week in early 1982, to between 350 and

400 a week in the winter of 1982-83, the highest figure being achieved just before Christmas 1982. This was

accompanied by a small increase in the number of bus hours operated on each shift and a larger increase in the

number of trips per driver shift and per bus operating hour; the number of bus miles operated to serve each trip

decreased.

TABLE 2

Operating characteristics of Readibus

Trips made per week (excluding escorts)

Trips per driver shift

Bus operating hours per shift

Trips per bus operating hour

Bus miles operated per trip

Bus miles operated per operating hour

Average passenger trip length (miles)

Average passenger trip length (minutes)

Per cent of bus miles carrying passengers

Per cent of bus operating hours carrying passengers (i)

November February November February 1981 1982 1982 1983

226

11.3

6.6

1.7

6.3

10.7

2.7

16.7

43.7

47.9

291

10.5

6.5

1.6

6.3

10.1

2.8

16.6

43.8

44.3

351

13.6

6.8

2.0

5.7

11.4

381

14.9

6.8

2.2

4.9

10.8

Note: * Comparable data for two later dates are not available.

(i) Bus operating hours exclude start-up time (at the beginning of driver shifts) and drivers' breaks.

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2.3 Passenger and trip characteristics

The majority of the disabled passengers carried (counted irrespectively of whether these are separate

individuals or the same people travelling several times) are elderly women. Analysis o f booking forms in four

• periods in November 1981 and February 1982 showed that women formed over 84 per cent of passengers and

70 per cent of passengers were over 60 years of age. The main disability suffered was arthritis (41 per cent of

passengers), with more general characteristics such as 'walking difficulties' and 'frail and elderly' forming a second

important group. Wheelchair users showed an irregular pattern of trip making; for four periods between

November 1981 and February 1983 the proportion of passenger trips made by wheelchair-users varied between

15 and 33 per cent.

The analysis o f registered users (people who had ever been passengers, irrespective of their levels of use) up

to January 1982 showed slightly different results, indicating differences in frequency of use between different

types of people. Women formed 80 per cent of the 'ever-users' and people over 60 years of age formed 78 per

cent, indicating that women travelled more frequently than men, and the under-60s more frequently than the

over-60s. However the percentage with arthritis was broadly similar, at 40 per cent, to that of actual passengers

carried. People in wheelchairs formed 21 per cent of the registered users.

The homes of the passengers were found to be concentrated in three areas: the west of Reading and

Tilehurst (42 per cent o f ever-users), an older residential area immediately south of the town centre (11 per cent)

and to the east Earley and Woodley Green (18 per cent) (see Figure 1). There were, similarly, concentrations of

destinations: predominantly the town centre, two hospitals, various social centres, a discount store to the west

by the A4/M4 junction and newer housing areas where passengers' sons and daughters live.

Over 60 per cent o f trips were under 2 miles by crow's flight distance. The predominant trip purpose was

social/entertainment (40 per cent) with shopping next most common at over 20 per cent. Nearly 80 per cent of

the passengers using Readibus in one week had only made one joumey (an outward and return trip), but there

was a hard core of frequent users. Thus 25 per cent of the journeys were made by only 8 per cent of the

individual passengers. At the time of the research, about a quarter of the passengers were being accompanied by

an escort, but by the spring of 1983 this proport ion had dropped slightly to about a fifth. Some users also made

a limited number of journeys by conventional public transport, but this was less frequently used than other

special transport and lifts in cars, and Readibus was the most common means of travel (Bowlby, Kirby and

Swann, 1984).

The attitudes of the passengers to the service and its s taffwere found to be extremely positive. The only

major exception was some complaint about the difficulty of booking by phone, which has been somewhat eased

subsequently by the fitting of a 'queueing system' to the telephone.

The research results were broadly substantiated by the much more detailed study of passenger and trip

characteristics and the attitudes of users, carried out by University of Reading (Bowlby, Kirby and Swann, 1984).

2.4 Problems experienced and consultants" findings

While demand for the service rose rapidly to fill available capacity in the first weeks of operation, the

capacity provided and thus the ridership levels and fare revenue proved to be significantly lower than earlier

estimates had suggested. Both fixed costs and running costs proved to be slightly higher than had been estimated

at the planning stage. As a result o f these and other problems of a somewhat less pressing nature, the Transport

8

and Road Research Laboratory was approached for assistance. Consultants were appointed to investigate the

problems including, specifically, the cost-effectiveness of the service and to make recommendations to improve

the situation.

The consultants' findings (Heraty and Fowler, 1982) were divided into three groups: recommendations for

potential improvements to the service in its existing form, modifications to the service which would alter some of

its fundamental characteristics but could achieve higher capacity for the same cost, and alternative methods of

satisfying the demand at the same or less cost. The potential improvements included several of the features which

have subsequently been changed: improved booking practices, better telephone equipment, changes in operating

practices to reduce dead time, rescheduled shifts and increased fares especially for longer trips. The resulting actual

increase in capacity was 31 per cent between February 1982 and February 1983, compared to the predicted

maximum theoretical increase of 53 per cent from the same combination of alterations (not all o f which had been

implemented). Fare revenue in the same period rose by about 50 per cent.

2.5 Cost effectiveness and operating indices

It was clear that conventional public transport criteria would be inappropriate for judging the success of the

Readibus operation. New indices had to be derived and used to judge the service against its objectives. There were

several constraints on the approach used. As Readibus was the prototype British service, the only bases for

comparison were some historic data from other services abroad, with only limited comparability. A large amount

of detailed data on Readibus was available but few items had been analysed or consolidated. About half o f the

office staff time at Readibus was already being devoted to activities other than day-to-day running of the service

and the consultants' research resources were extremely limited.

The initial investigation took the form of analysing the costs and revenues, which are shown in an annualised

form in Table 3. Over half the net costs were fixed: the overhead costs for office accommodation and administra-

tive staff, vehicle insurance, etc, and a fixed-price maintenance contract. Combined with the consultants ' estimate

that about half the office staff time was devoted to data analysis and service development, this showed that about

a quarter of the net costs were attributable to factors associated with the prototype nature of the service.

The initial 1981 estimates of the necessary annual level o f support (the total net cost) had doubled in the

1982/83 budget that had been drawn up by the time of the research (as Table 3 shows). These were translated

into the unitised costs shown in Table 4. The average cost per passenger trip was £5.73 in February 1982, of which

36p was recouped on average from fares. Fare revenue thus covered only 6 per cent o f costs.

Detailed analyses were carried out of the weekly statistical summaries kept by Readibus, and o f the bus

running schedules and driver trip forms for two sample weeks' operations in November 1981 and February 1982.

These were supplemented by a limited number of on-vehicle observations, to produce the operating characteristics

shown in Table 2. It was apparent that dead mileage was around 56 per cent of the total available, and that dead

time was over 60 per cent, which pointed to inefficiencies in operating practices. In particular, the shift pattern

operated, the need to start and finish each day by driving between the depot on the southern edge of the town

and the town centre office, and to start and finish each shift by visiting the office, in bo th cases to collect and

deliver the on-board assistant and the drivers' forms for the day, all combined to produce extra dead time outside

the operating hours on the road. When these periods and staff breaks were removed from the calculation, the

proportions of the operating time for which the buses carried passengers rose to 48 per cent (November 1981)

and 44 per cent (February 1982), which still indicated that the scheduling of trips by the dispatcher was not as

efficient as it could be, with the concentration of trip origins and destinations. The shift system and provision of

9

a back-up vehicle reduced the average hours worked by each bus per day to between 6.5 and 6.8. This compared to

a range of 7.2 - 9.6 found in similar systems abroad, which had somewhat different operating methods and larger numbers of vehicles and drivers, thus the proportional effects of back-up vehicles was not so marked.

TABLE 3

Cost estimates for Readibus operation (£)

Depreciation (iii)

Overhead costs (salaries, office costs, Vehicle

insurance, 'etc)

Running costs (drivers' wages, fuel, maintenance,

repairs, etc) (iv)

Pre-launch estimate

8,480

29,900

28,000

Annual equivalent of February 1982

operation (i)

8,480

38,900

32,100

Estimates (ii) for 1982/83

8,480

57,400

46,090

Total gross costs 66,380 79,480 111,970 Less revenue -16,250 -5,000 -6,960 (v)

Total net costs 50,130 74,480 105,010

Notes: (i) Consultant's estimate

(ii) Readibus estimate

(iii) Based on capital costs of £42,400 for five-year period

(iv) One element of vehicle cost is a fixed price servicing contract linked to agreed mileage forecasts; repairs and parts are on a variable costing basis.

(v) Assumes 20,000 trips per annum, using six drivers as at the time'of the research.

TABLE 4

Cost-effectiveness Parameters (£) Equivalent annual figures from February 1982 operation

Cost per annum (including depreciation)

Cost per day (i)

Cost per passenger trip (ii)

Cost per passenger mile (ii)

Cost per vehicle mile

Cost per vehicle hour

Before Revenue After Revenue

79,480

241

5.73

1.73

0.93

9.19

74,480

226

5.37

1.62 0.87 8.61

Notes: (i) Based upon 330 days' operation per annum, allowing for Bank Hofidays and ad hoc cessation of service, for example caused by bad weather, in the period monitored during the research.

(ii) Excludes trips made by escorts of disabled passengers.

10

The critical factors in calculating the capacity which could be provided were the number of trips per hour

of operation (a function of the geographical dispersion of users and their destinations, and of the efficiency of the

dispatch operation) and the number of operating hours which could be provided with the same staff (a function

of the shift pattern and drivers' practices). A number of measures were proposed which were tailored specifically

to the way in which Readibus operated.

In addition to investigating the problems which the values of the above indices implied, three broadly

similar North American systems were used as a basis for comparison, as shown in Table 5. Although the parameters

are subject to a number of important caveats, especially in respect of fleet sizes, the extent o f the operating area,

type of service and cost comparisons, some findings were felt to be relevant. It was apparent that the number of

trips per bus hour for Readibus were lower than the two services in Portland and Manhattan with similar trip

characteristics and similar or worse levels of road traffic congestion, and were similar to the Connecticut Dial-A-

Ride whose average trip length in minutes was almost half as long again.

The efficiencies which have been made since the research was carried out, producing the 31 per cent capacity

increase between February 1982 and February 1983, are illustrated in Table 2. There have been increases bo th in

trips carried per bus operating hour (from 1.6 in February 1982 to 2.2 a year later) and in bus operating hours

per driver shift (from 6.5 to 6.8 over the same period), while bus miles operated for each trip have decreased from

6.3 to 4.9, despite a reportedly stable passenger trip length during the year. Curiously, the combination of lower

mileage per trip and more trips per hour has produced an erratic pattern of the bus miles operated per hour. This

may be due to the increased proportion of boarding/alighting time in each operating hour as trip rates per hour

increase, producing less running mileage in each hour despite a more efficient use of the vehicles. There may also

be some seasonal effect involved, as the lower levels of mileage per hour have been in periods of extreme winter

weather.

Since the research was carried out a number of other British systems have begun operation. Although the

data available are still incomplete, some comparisons can be made with more recent Readibus operations and those

of other operators. The schemes vary a great deal in their size and method Of operation, from a one or two vehicle

fleet operating a system like Readibus, to use of volunteers' cars or support for commercial taxi operation.

Compared to 550 trips per operating vehicle (or 410 per vehicle in the fleet) per mon th for Readibus (based on

an annualised average from February 1983 figures), Camden Dial-A-Ride carried 260 on the same month 's data,

Hammersmith and Fulham's Handicab only 70 (January 1983) and Stockport 's Easigo over 350. It is clear

therefore that Readibus is a relatively large-scale scheme, but no reliable inferences can be drawn from these

figures about differences in efficiency, because of variations in operating methods.

Despite the differences between the size of the areas served, the passenger trip lengths in London were only

slightly longer, at 3.1 miles (Camden Dial-A-Ride) and 3.7 miles (Handicab), than those of Readibus in Reading

(2.8 miles in February 1982). Similarly, the two London schemes ran slightly more bus miles in total per trip

carried: 8.1 in Camden and 6.5 in Hammersmith and Fulham, compared to 4.9 in Reading in February 1983.

This latter was a reduction from 6.3 miles in the same month of 1982 and may reflect the longer period of

experience with scheduling the service at Readibus and the improvements introduced in the scheduling practices.

It should be noted that the proportion of total bus mileage on which passengers were carried does not

always improve as services are developed, possibly because users become more confident and begin to visit more

dispersed destinations. The percentage of the Wynthenshawe Mobile volunteer scheme fell from 61 per cent, in

the period November 1980 - September 1981, to 46 per cent, in the year October 1981 - September 1982.

Handicab's proportion of bus-occupied mileage fell consistently from 57 per cent in February 1983, to 52 per

cent in March and 44 per cent in April (Bould, 1983).

11

TABLE 5

Comparisons with similar operations abroad

Readibus Portland, Oregon Manhattan LIFT Easyride

February 1982 (ii) 1978 (iii) 1979 (iv)

Connecticut: Valley District Transit (i)

1977 (v)

Fleet 4 12-seat buses 12 10-seat b uses 10 15-seat buses 6 21-seat buses;

plus taxis used for 2 12-seat + 2-whch buses

up to 10% of trips 2 9-seat buses; 2 cars

Bus hours worked per 6.5 8.0 7.2 9.6 bus day

Trips:

per day 42 325 including taxis 155 538

per vehicle 10.5 27.2 (buses only) 15.5 45

DaR: 1.7 (Jan.) - 0.9 (April) per hour of service 1.6 3.4 2.2

Total: 6.9 - 7.3

Average passenger trip:

miles 2.8 4.3 2.4 "short"

minutes 20 22 23 29 (1974 data)

Gross costs:

per trip £5.73 $8.92 $12.87 $6.80 (Jan.) - $13.29 (April)

(at $1.55 = £1) £5.75 £8.30 £4.39 - £8.57

per vehicle mile £0.93 $1.78 $5.35 $0.86

(at $1.55 = £1) £1.15 £3.45 £0.55

per vehicle hour £9.19 $22.48 $27.34 $11.57

(at $1.55 = £1) £14.50 £17.64 £7.46

Notes: Calculations do not take account of any persons accompanying disabled passengers.

(i) Mixture of Dial-a-Ride, Contract, Subscription and Fixed Route services operated.

(ii)

Unless otherwise stated, data refer to all trips.

Analysis of Readibus booking forms for four days' operations; trips averaged over four

vehicles, but one vehicle kept on stand-by.

(iii) Source:

(iv) Source:

(v) Source:

U.S. Department of Transportation (I 978)

U.S. Department of Transportation (1980)

U.S. Department of Transportation (1979)

Cost comparisons are more difficult to draw. Table 6 indicates the passenger trip costs for Readibus, two

taxi schemes (one operating and the other in the planning stage) and a voluntary-driver scheme. These are more

indicative of the differences between types of service than of the performance of any one scheme.

12

TABLE 6

Cost per passenger trip for various British operations (£)

Readibus

February 1982 (i) February 1983

Edinburgh

Dial-a-Cab

Wythenshawe Mobile (iv)

October 1981 - September 1982

Southwark Taxis

Before Revenue After Revenue

5.73 5.19

3.62

5.37 4.80

2.37 (ii) 2.47 ('tii)

Metered fare

1.84

Up to £5 plus extras (v)

Notes: (i) Based on consultants' estimates of annual operation.

(ii) Holders of mobility allowance, who pay a higher fare.

(iii) People who are not holders of mobility allowance.

(iv) Volunteer drivers receive expenses only.

(v) The scheme as planned will cover the costs of night-time and weekend hiring, and charges for

baggage but not for extra able-bodied passengers.

3. THE USE OF INDICES IN SUGGESTING SERVICE IMPROVEMENTS

It is only by the use of some form of monitoring that services can be developed and can be demonstrated to be

giving value for money to their funding agencies. Operating indices can be used in two ways: to monitor the

development of the service over time and to compare the service with other similar operations. The results of such

monitoring and comparative evaluation can be applied in various ways: to suggest improvements to the existing

service, to identify more efficient alternative types of service and to assess the extent to which entirely different

transport operations could provide a similar level of service at a similar cost. Examples are given here of the ways

in which various indices were employed to suggest possible modifications to the Readibus service, to illustrate

the practical use which can be made of such indices.

3.1 Parameters for assessing improvements to the existing service

Most of the services currently in operation are of small scale and the resources which are available to collect

and analyse operating data are extremely hmited. The National Advisory Unit for Community Transport, itself

with only limited resources, has set up a system of data collection which relies on the individual operators to

furnish relevant information on an ad hoc basis. However this is still in a preliminary stage and even those operators

who are currently cooperating cannot provide all the requested items. The GLC collects operating data on a

monthly basis for all London schemes.

13

The parameters selected for service monitoring are therefore constrained to a large extent by data availability.

In the case of Readibus, the calculation of dead mileage for only two sample weeks had to be carried out by a

laborious hand-analysis of drivers' forms, which in themselves are not necessarily as accurate as might be desired

for analysis purposes, especially with regard to boarding/alighting and running times. Nonetheless, this can be a

useful way of identifying inefficiencies.

The most significant parameter by which a service may be judged as it develops is the number of trips made

in a unit period (week or month). However even that is not truly representative of the benefits to the community

as this number could be significantly increased by the carriage of groups of people on outings; this service is not

provided by many operators whose primary concern is with individual mobility.

For services which operate their own fleet (as distinct from volunteer-driver schemes and taxi operations),

bus operating hours per day or week show the level o f efficiency of utilisation of the vehicles, which are often the

scarce and expensive resource of the service. The level o f dead mileage and time, at the beginning and end of each

driver's shift and during driver breaks, will indicate where economies may be made and specifically whether the

buses could be more efficiently scheduled between drivers. Individual characteristics of the system need to be

considered to determine whether the advantages of having one driver per vehicle would be outweighed by the

benefits o f keeping the vehicle in operation for more hours.

Parameters are needed to assess the efficiency of the dispatch operation, which is the single most important

factor in producing a cost-efficient operation. Their values may depend upon the average passenger trip length,

Which may vary between services or over time. Thus they should be treated with caution and are most appropriately

used to moni tor a particular service over a relatively short period. The number of tr!ps per vehicle-hour and the

time and mileage spent by each vehicle on the average trip are good indicators; taken together these parameters

will highlight where low levels o f productivity are caused by traffic conditions and where there is a slack in the

scheduling system. Generally when the operating mileage run empty is more than the mileage run with passengers,

either the scheduling needs improvement, or the area served is too large and the demarid too scattered geographic-

ally to permit more efficient operation. However changes to the area or type of demand served could involve

altering the service objectives and redesigning the service and it may be necessary to accept that further increases

in efficiency cannot be made.

The breakdown of costs between different items can also indicate potential areas for development. For

example, over half the net costs of Readibus were fixed, thus a percentage increase in the variable running costs

would have only half that effect on the total. Increased vehicle and driver hours per week, and in the future an

increased humber of vehicles, within the same administrative framework, would in this case expand the capacity

at a low marginal cost. About half the administrative staff time was initially being spent on non-operational

aspects, predominantly on analysis and development allied to the prototype nature of the service. Therefore after

some stabilisation of the service the time available at Readibus for day-to-day operations will increase and the

number of vehicles and drivers that can be handled can be increased at no extra administrative cost.

Costs per trip, per hour and per mile are all largely determined by vehicle productivity, as the marginal cost

o f operating more trips per hour is very low. However revenue is trip-based. Thus an increase.in the number of

trips can increase the proportion of the costs which are covered by fares. In the case of Readibus this effect was

not apparent (as shown by Table 1), largely due to the purchase and installation of a computer system, with

associated capital and professional services costs in the financial years 1982/3 and 1983/4. Although special

services will never break even when all attributable costs are included, if the percentage fare box contribution can

be raised to double figures this can give a major psychological boost to the operating staff and the funding bodies.

14

3.2 The effectiveness of alternative types of service

It was felt by the consultants that the implementation of all the possible conventional improvements to the

Readibus operation could result in a maximum increase in capacity of about 60 per cent, of which about half has

already been achieved in practice. In a second stage of the research, the analysis methodology was used to

investigate more radical improvements to service cost effectiveness which would require some change in the basic

type of operation. The first option considered was to concentrate particular vehicles in each of the main areas or

sectors of the town where demand arose, and to run a fixed-rotite-with-deviation service from each sector into the

town centre via major attractors. Between 5 and 15 per cent of journeys only were across the town and would

have had to be catered for by other means. This was estimated to increase potential capacity by between 70 and

100 per cent, at the expense of the almost complete flexibility of trip timing which is currently possible. It was

felt by the consultants that as the service was aimed at being a public transport replacement, flexibility in timing

was not necessarily to be considered as a fixed objective, provided the service were regular, frequent and reliable.

During this exercise, some thought was given to the cost-effectiveness of providing taxi services as a replace-

ment for the cross-town trips which would not be covered by sector-to-town centre services. The out-of-pocket taxi

charge for a ' typical ' day's cross-town trips was found to be £19, compared to total cost figures of £ 4 7 - £ 5 8 by

Readibus (depending on whether a time or distance base were used for calculation). For the majority of passengers

who were not users of wheelchairs, this seemed to be a reasonably practical proposition and the costs were clearly

lower than the current costs of using Readibus, even allowing for the extra administrative effort which would be

required• Other issues have to be considered, such as the security and level of care which is provided by the Readibus

system and its staff and could not be provided by taxis. However it was felt that this alternative, which is the basis

of the scheme in Southwark and some other London Boroughs, was worth considering in the future development

of any service if greater efficiency becomes a sufficiently important goal to justify the resulting reduction in

service quality.

Some further small increase in capacity was found to be possible by allowing pre-booking in two situations:

(a) for regular work trips in the early mornings, when other demand is low (the current booking arrangements

do not allow workers to rely on always being able to use the system);

(b) by allowing groups of people (for example from residential or other institutions) to book in advance for

trips during periods of low demand, in cases where other arrangements also have to be made in advance; an

example is for evening theatre outings•

No pre-booking or group booking is currently possible.

The system occupancy levels which could be achieved by these means might have led to some restrictions

having to be imposed in peak periods on the numbers of escorting passengers who could have been carried, although

it was found subsequently that the proportion of trips on which escorts were taken decreased as people became

more used to the system.

It should however be noted that since the research was conducted, demand for evening travel has increased

so that evening group bookings could now be handled more efficiently by a communi ty bus scheme than by

Readibus.

15

3.3 Radical alternatives for transport provision

In the third and ffmal stage of the work, some alternative ways of using the same level of resources to cater

for the demand were investigated, using the same parameters for analysis. In order to make assessments of the

cost-effectiveness of the service, it was believed that such options should be considered, without commenting upon

the implicit changes in service objectives and philosophy that would be required for their implementation. It was

not proposed that these changes be made to the Readibus operation.

Firstly, consideration was given to a completely taxi-based operation. At the same resource cost, this was

found to provide a potentially higher level o f capacity than either the existing operation or the modified operations

discussed above, largely because only marginal extra administrative costs are involved for the taxi operators. At an

average trip fare of £1.65 (42 p paid by the passenger and £1.23 paid as subsidy), about 200 trips a day could be

carried at the same net cost as the Readibus operation was exhibiting in February 1982. The main disadvantages

would be the problem of dealing with wheelchairs and the lack of the personalised aspects of Readibus service. It

was estimated that wheelchair-bound passengers' trips could be catered for by supplying one lift-equipped minibus

to the taxi operators, at a net annual cost o f about £1,000 and an initial investment of about £10,000. The above

calculations ignored any revenue generated by escorts to disabled passengers, if they were charged a separate fare.

Secondly, a network of scheduled Readibus services into the town centre only, with home pick-up and set-

down, was found to present a similar level o f capacity to an all-taxi service (about 200 trips a day) at the same

cost, and with much higher revenues per vehicle mile than the present Readibus operation, reducing the net cost

(subsidy) per trip to well under £1. This system would cater for 40 per cent of trips directly and for the remainder

passengers would have to change on to another Readibus service in the town centre. There would not be the current

level o f flexibility in trip timing and careful scheduling would be necessary for interchange in the town centre, but

to a large extent the service would present the operating characteristics of conventional public transport. The major

disadvantages would be the difficulty and inconvenience for passengers having to change vehicle in mid-journey,

especially during bad weather, and the longer journey times that would be incurred.

Finally, planned or possible improvements to existing public transport vehicles were investigated, using

some of the research still being carried out through the Transport and Road Research Laboratory. About 80 per

cent o f the Readibus users interviewed during the course of the research by Reading University said that they

could use regular buses. However it is not clear how many of these were referring not to the set of tasks involved

in using public transport but only to the physical act o f climbing on and off the vehicle or how much difficulty

would be experienced in the process; most o f them said they needed help with using buses and the others had

difficulty managing alone (Bowlby, Kirby and Swann, 1984). During the analysis of alternative transport services,

it was assumed that half the Readibus users would be able to cope with other aspects of public transport travel, if

boarding and alighting were made easier and some changes were introduced into operations, whereby the drivers

ensured that all passengers were seated before moving off. Furthermore, most of the passengers transferring from

Readibus would then be entitled to travel free of charge, by virtue of their age. Passengers would not of course

benefit from the personal care which Readibus provides, nor f rom door-to-door servoce. The costs of bringing

in such vehicle modifications to the whole of Reading's fleet were estimated at the same levels as one year of

Readibus Support. However there would be t ime delays in effecting the changes and even after the fleet was

completely equipped with modified vehicles, the residual problems of other travellers would render this option

more o f a supplement than a substitute to a special system.

Investigation of these more radical modifications to the ways of providing transport for the disabled in

Reading, without their necessarily being proposed for implementation in this particular case, substantiates the

16

earlier findings that the service provided to meet the pre-def'med objectives was being operated with very high unit

costs. It was recommended that at the planning stage of new services, all possible options be considered before the

objectives and the methods of funding are finalised.

4. GENERAL LESSONS

While analysing the Readibus operation and investigating the other options available to satisfy demand, a number

of generally applicable lessons emerged which are of interest to other services elsewhere. These lessons sprang

from the Readibus service having to be established with no other experience being available of similar schemes.

4.1 The need for a realistic assessment of capacity and demand

Both the capacity of special transport services and the demand for them are closely linked to the operational

characteristics of the service provided. Readibus has demonstrated the high level of demand for almost totally

unconstrained travel by the disabled.

Prior to setting up other similar services, the objectives and the type of operation to meet them need to be

very clearly defined and it is suggested that they should err on the restrictive. If initial demand falls short of supply,

the restrictions can be eased in a gradual manner later, but it is very difficult to withdraw a service from a group of

people who have become accustomed to it. Restrictions could take the form of confining the service to only the

most severely disabled, instead of a self-selected group (although there would obviously be problems involved in

defming and enforcing such eligibility criteria). There could be a system of priorities for different journey purposes.

Only destinations used by significantly large groups of people could be served, ie a many-to-few service could be

introduced at the beginning.

4.2 The need to tailor the funding mechanism to the needs of the service

Alternative means of satisfying the demand for the transport of the disabled should naturally be evaluated

before funding is applied for so that the nature of the funding can be tailored to the service provided. The research

showed taxis to be a cost-effective means of providing subsidies for the disabled with equal, or more, transport-

benefit than the provision of the minibus service for which funding was obtained. However in the case of Readibus

the funding could not be diverted for such purposes and a taxi service would not have met the service objectives as

originally deffmed.

4.3 The need to establish efficient work practices

It is obvious that efficient systems need to be established for carrying out the often taxing functions that

are involved in running special services and dealing with the clientele. From the analysis of the Readibus operation,

it appeared that some inefficiencies were generated by the conflicting needs for staff to deal with operational,

developmental and monitoring work. This was exacerbated by the high level of interest that was shown in the

scheme by a wide variety of bodies throughout the country. It is suggested that the requirements to collect data

to evaluate the experimental operation of any other service should be distinguished from those to collate only

enough data to operate and develop an efficient transport service. The tasks involved in service evaluation should

be separated as nearly totally as possible from the establishment of the transport service, even if that means the

employment of separate temporary staff to be solely responsible for the work.

17

It is clear from the research that the design of work practices and record sheets is of great importance and

needs to be closely monitored and modified as necessary during the early months of operation. The nature of

the forms used will depend upon the type of service operated and it is almost impossible to generalise about the

design. However it is suggested that the minimum amount of clerical work is built in to the design of forms and

procedures, concomitant with providing all necessary information for service operation.

4.4 Choice of equipment and method of organisation

Vehicles need to be selected very carefully, after a defmition of objectives and a realistic estimation of

demand and nature of operations, and before budgets are finalised for funding applications. High mileage in

urban conditions will require reliable and robust vehicles, thus diesels will usually be preferable on grounds of

fuel and maintenance costs. The need for flexibility in seating arrangements will depend on the nature of the

service offered. Readibus has a very variable service structure and clientele, but even there the configuration of

the vehicles frequently goes unchanged for days at a time. Furthermore the effort involved in moving seats

appears not to be worth the time saved in carrying, for example, three wheelchairs at the same time, instead of

making two separate trips. The flexibility of configuration would be most valuable for group otitings, but these

are not catered for by the Readibus service.

Good accommodation and efficient equipment are clearly necessary for the staff, particularly for the

dispatcher, but although sophisticated equipment can be cost-effective in assisting the dispatching and scheduling

operations, there is no easy technological answer to what must remain a specialised human function.

4.5 Personnel aspects

Lack of British experience in this field leads to there being no obvious candidate to fill staff vacancies in

special transport teams. Although as more services are implemented and developed, a cadre of experienced

professionals will form, it is suggested that formal training in the whole field of community transport should be

made available at various levels. This could include the provision of special options in university courses (for

example, MSc Transport) and short courses for non-graduate staff.

The goodwill and enthusiasm essential for a service undertaking, especially one dealing with potentially

difficult customers, is rapidly eroded if s taff have consistently to work excessively long hours for little financial

reward. It is much more difficult to rekindle the necessary spirit in the staff than to increase, or restore cutbacks

in, the service provided. Thus any necessary savings in expenditure should not be at the expense of the staff but

rather at the expense of the service provided.

The employment , through special job-creation schemes, of temporary labour which may be low-cost and

unskilled is financially attractive and may be invaluable to the people employed, but in the case of some of the

jobs this may be to the detriment of the service and should not be regarded as a suitable substitute for engaging

permanent trained s taff at a market rate.

5. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

Special transport for the disabled is a new field which caters for a growing demand especially as the population

ages. The requirements o f the disabled for trip-making can be as varied as those of the able-bodied and the number

of special transport schemes to cater for them is increasing, in parallel with alterations to conventional public

t ransport to assist the disabled. The special schemes that are currently (mid-1983) in operation are widely ranging

18

in their scope and provision; this report concentrates on the Readibus service in Reading during its initial year of

operation (1981-82).

The Readibus service began by providing a highly personalised service to a self-selected disabled population

and the resulting demand took up the available capacity very shortly after the launch of the operation. The scheme

is extremely popular with its users and provides in some cases their sole means of transport. Nonetheless, for a

variety of reasons, the ridership achieved was less than had been forecast, the revenue taken failed to reach the

target and the costs of operation proved to be in excess of those originally budgeted. Part of the problem lay in

inefficiencies of operation and improvements were made as experience was gained with the service, especially

with the booking procedures carried out by the dispatcher.

Parameters to measure the cost-effectiveness of the service were devised during the research. These were

then used to demonstrate progress and make comparisons with other services elsewhere. For example, they showed

• the following improvements to have been made between November 1981 and February 1983: the number of

trips carried each week on the four vehicles rose from 226 to 381, trips carried pe r bus operating hour increased

from 1.7 to 2.2 and the total bus running miles generated by each trip decreased from 6.3 to 4.9. Comparable

figures for other services now in operation indicate that Readibus is among the most efficient in capacity terms,

although it still exhibits very high trip costs.

The parameters were used to highlight the key factors in service efficiency and thus to develop and evaluate

possible minor and major alterations to the service. Many of the minor changes were implemented and were

instrumental in effecting the improvements shown. The more radical alternatives were discussed in theoretical

terms and not proposed for implementation. Nonetheless, the research demonstrated that at the same level of net

cost, a much higher capacity (and thus increased mobility for the disabled population as a whole) could be offered

with an all-taxi service or a special Readibus service with a limited selection of destinations (more like a

conventional bus), although the other factors militating against these options were also recognised.

The general lessons learned for the development and use o f monitoring parameters and for the establishment

of new schemes point to the need for a professional approach to the provision of special transport services, not-

withstanding their individual objectives and philosophies which are not totally those of a commercial undertaking.

6. A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S

The research described in this report was carried out for the former Access and Mobility Division (Head:

Dr C G B Mitchell), now the Human and Social Factors Division (Head: Mr G Maycock), of the Transport and

Road Research Laboratory. The author is particularly grateful for the assistance rendered her by Mr S Town,

formerly of that Division, and Ms J Hopkin. She is also pleased to acknowledge the help and interest of current

and former members of the following organisations, all of whom contributed greatly with their data and advice:

Readibus and the Voluntary Services Council, Reading

Department of Geography, University of Reading

National Advisory Unit for Community Transport

Greater London Council

19

7. REFERENCES

BOULD, M (1983). Reflections on Dial-A-Ride. Camden Community Transport.

BOWLBY, S R, A M KIRBY and V SWANN (1984). Use of demand-responsive transport for disabled people:

the Readibus example. TRRL report in preparation.

BROOKS, B M, H M EDWARDS, C R FRASER, J A LEVIS and M A JOHNSON (1980). Passenger problems

on moving buses. Department o f the Environment Department o f Transport, TRRL Report SR 520. Transport and Road Research Laboratory, Crowthorne.

BROOKS, B M, H P RUFFEL-SMITH and JOAN S WARD (1974). An investigation of factors affecting the use

of buses by both elderly and ambulant disabled persons. British Leyland Truck and Bus Division and Transport and Road Research Laboratory.

CENTRAL STATISTICAL OFFICE (1983). Social Trends 13. Table 1.2, HM Stationery Office, London.

HERATY, M J and G M FOWLER (1982). Special VSC transport services for disabled people in Reading:

Operational and Financial analyses and recommendations. WP (HSF) 4. Prepared for the Transport and Road Research Laboratory. (Available on request).

MEADOWS, T (1983). Preliminary considerations for the design of a Dial-A-Ride system to serve the needs of

people who cannot use conventional public transport. Paper presented to the Third National Conference of

Community Transport Operators held at Hattersley, Hyde, Cheshire, 28-30 January 1983.

OXLEY, P R and M BENWELL (1983). The use of buses in Sheffield by elderly and handicapped people.

Department o f the Environment Department o f Transport, TRRL Report SR 779. Transport and Road Research Laboratory, Crowthorne.

US DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (1978). The Lift: Special Needs Transportation in Portland, Oregon. Interim Report. UMTA Report No. OR-06--0004-78-2.

US DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (1979). The Valley Transit District: Specialized Transportation

for the Elderly, Handicapped and Low-Income in the Lower Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut. UMTA Report No. CT-06-0003-79-1 .

US DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (1980). Evaluation of the Easyride Specialized Transportation Service. UMTA Report No. MA-06-0049-80-4 .

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ABSTRACT

Monitoring demand-responsive transport for disabled people: the Readibus example: MARGARET J HERATY: Department of the Environment Department of Transport, TRRL Supplementary Report 828: Crowthorne, 1984 (Transport and Road Research Laboratory). This report is based on a study into the operations and cost-effectiveness of a special bus service for people in Reading with permanent or temporary disabilities. The background to the provision of special services is discussed, including the different approaches to service planning which may be used. The use of operating indices in analysing and improving service efficiency is described and discussed. Alternative ways of providing transport for the disabled are analysed in the context of the Readibus operation. General lessons are drawn which may be applicable to similar services elsewhere. In the report, reference is made not only to Readibus but also to earlier services in North America and more recently-established schemes in Britain.

ISSN 0305-1315

ABSTRACT

Monitoring demand-responsive transport for disabled people: the Readibus example: MARGARET J HERATY: Department of the Environment Department of Transport, TRRL Supplementary Report 828: Crowthorne, 1984 (Transport and Road Research Laboratory). This report is based on a study into the operations and cost-effectiveness of a special bus service for people in Reading with permanent or temporary disabilities. The background to the provision of special services is discussed, including the different approaches to service planning which may be used. The use of operating indices in analysing and improving service efficiency is described and discussed. Alternative ways of providing transport for the disabled are analysed in the context of the Readibus operation. General lessons are drawn which may be applicable to similar services elsewhere. In the report, reference is made not only to Readibus but also to earlier services in North America and more recently-established schemes in Britain.

ISSN 0305-1315