There have been hundreds of on-demand transit projects deployed around the world, but are transit agencies designing them for success? Pantonium’s team will discuss various approaches to designing an on-demand transit service based on our experiences deploying projects around North America and our observations from other similar projects.

1. How to Design an On-Demand Transit
Service
August 20th, 2020
Webinar
Pantonium 2020 ©

2. Webinar Agenda
What is on-demand transit1
Making a service area that grows ridership2
Case Studies3
Outcomes and metrics to consider4
Questions5
Pantonium 2020 ©

3. Equitable
Sustainable
Convenient
Planning Transit
Universal Goals
This document is the proprietary and confidential information of Pantonium Inc.
and is only for the person to whom it is addressed

4. Macrotransit
Source: The State of Demand-Responsive Transit in Canada, July, 2020. Dr. Willem Klumpenhouwer Postdoctoral Fellow Transit Analytics Lab
University of Toronto

5. Designing a Service Area for On-Demand Transit
Complementary System Supplementary System

6. Primary Service Area for
On-Demand Transit
- Include all bus stops
- Coordinate with outside
services like fixed route
and door to door
- Simple and convenient for
all riders

7. Service Area Example:
RTC’s “Trip-to-Strip”
Microtransit Pilot
June - December 2019
Do people live, work,
and shop in your
service area?

8. The “Walmart” Principle:
Any successful on-demand
transit service area will have a
large retail and employment
center that generates the
most trips

9. St. Albert Transit

10. St. Albert
Transit
Fixed Route Bus
Network 2020
It works during the
day but how do you
cover it during the
night with only two
buses?

11. All of St. Albert’s
Bus Stops
Create Primary
Service Area
St. Albert
Transit

12. St. Albert
Transit
On-Demand Bus
Travel Patterns from
GPS
Buses go
everywhere, service
is focused on high
demand corridor but
all other routes are
covered

13. Ozark Regional Transit

14. Ozark Regional Transit
- Only one bus route to cover entire
city of Rogers
- Limited resources for any service
- No idea where the demand was or
where it wanted to go

15. Gaps in Stop Coverage
The Golden Rule
● 1300 foot radius drawn from every stop
● This is the most empirically supported optimal
distance between transit stops according to
both survey data and user behaviour

16. Opportunities for
Coverage Expansion
Why Even Bother?
● These gaps exist because they aren’t
popular to begin with
● In a fixed route, introducing stops in
these low demand areas means less
efficiency and higher costs
● In ODT, the vehicle only visits these
stops when there is a request
Convenience + Latent Demand
● Riders in these areas will have transfer
free mobility across Rogers
● Opening up additional stops = tapping
into latent demand from riders who’s
travel is now convenient
● Only 7 stops radically improve coverage
in key points of interest

17. On-Demand Transit
Objectives

18. Typical Service Cost
What’s the cost for night service in a city of 75,000?
- $100 per vehicle hour
- 5 days/week
- 3 hours/day
- 8 buses
- 10 riders/SH
- 240 riders/day
- $10/trip
$624,000 Annual Cost of Night Service
$78,000 Annual Cost per vehicle for Night Service

19. OpEx Impact of Macrotransit
Original Annual cost of $640,000/year
# Buses Annual SH Annual $ R/SH Trip Cost Op $ Saved
3 2,340 $ 234,000 27 $ 3.75 $ 390,000
4 3,120 $ 312,000 20 $ 5.00 $ 312,000
5 3,900 $ 390,000 16 $ 6.25 $ 234,000
6 4,680 $ 468,000 13 $ 7.50 $ 156,000

20. Secondary Objectives
• Increasing Ridership: On-demand
transit can increase the amount
of riders that an existing service
can carry without increasing
service hours
• Increasing Coverage: More bus
stops can be covered by the
same number of vehicles without
increasing service hours

21. Tertiary Objectives
● Saving bus maintenance / gas
● Gathering data
● Replacing consultants
● Collecting payments
● Automating dispatch
● Improving rider experience
● Reducing environmental impacts
● Covering transit deserts or
disadvantaged communities
● Providing first/last mile service

22. Questions to ask yourself as a designer
Who - is going to ride this?
What - are the resources available?
Where - is best for the service area?
When - is the best time to run this?
Why - do you want to do this?

23. Once you know what you want, you only have to decide HOW
Ride-hailing Services On-Demand Microtransit On-Demand Macrotransit
Rides per service hour: 1-2
Cost per trip: $7-$44
Service area size: 1-5 sq.
miles
Rides per service hour: 3-6
Cost per trip: $20
Service area size: 2-10 sq.
miles
Rides per service hour: 20-30
Cost per trip: $4.60
Service area size: 10-60 sq.
miles

24. Questions?
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25. Thank you
& Stay Safe
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Pantonium 2020 ©