Flexible public transport in low density areas

Abstract

A public transport system is of crucial importance to ensure an equitable and more sustainable mobility to all citizens of a region, since it allows the possibility to travel long distances instead of the use of private cars. However, conventional public transport systems have a rigid framework with routes where specific locations are predefined in order to have a regular service that serves as much population as possible. Well designed regular bus services are usually economically viable, but in low density areas the demand is not sufficient to ensure viability and the same service ofcentral urban areas. Thus, it is necessary to introduce some flexibility in public transport service, to allow coverage of the entire population, without destroying the viability of the bus operator of low density areas. This approach isnow being applied in a case study in low density areas of the municipality of Braga, where the bus service is poor and inadequate to ensure the mobility needs of its population. In this study, the implementation of a flexible public transport is preliminarily analysed, as a possible solution to this problem.