During the summer of 2015 I was given the opportunity to do research at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. I worked under the direction of Professor Anat Caspi on a project that aimed to maximize the efficiency of scheduling bus routes within the King County Paratransit Transportation system. The following is a brief overview of the project:
Paratransit is a demand responsive mode of public transportation where passengers with disabilities are picked up at or near their doorstep and delivered to their specified destination. There has been little investment and research about the technical complexities of delivering ADA paratransit. Paratransit provides a vital link to mobility for people who are unable to use traditional fixed route services, but it is not the primary form of transit that Metro provides to people with disabilities. Kind County estimates that for every trip provided on Metro’s paratransit system at least ten times that many trips are provided to people with disabilities on Metro’s traditional fixed-route network. Currently within King County Metro’s system, a paratransit trip costs Metro approximately ten times as much as an equivalent trip on the fixed-route service and has consistently risen faster than the pace of inflation. If the cost of the paratransit program can be contained through greater efficiency, Metro could provide far more trips and enhance the mobility of people with disabilities through greater investment in both ADA paratransit and its fixed-route network. The objective of this project is to take current system information (currently have access to 18 months of back data) and provide a prediction algorithm for real time cost analysis thereby helping dispatchers and schedulers make informed, efficient routing decisions.
Paratransit is a demand responsive mode of public transportation where passengers with disabilities are picked up at or near their doorstep and delivered to their specified destination. There has been little investment and research about the technical complexities of delivering ADA paratransit. Paratransit provides a vital link to mobility for people who are unable to use traditional fixed route services, but it is not the primary form of transit that Metro provides to people with disabilities. Kind County estimates that for every trip provided on Metro’s paratransit system at least ten times that many trips are provided to people with disabilities on Metro’s traditional fixed-route network. Currently within King County Metro’s system, a paratransit trip costs Metro approximately ten times as much as an equivalent trip on the fixed-route service and has consistently risen faster than the pace of inflation. If the cost of the paratransit program can be contained through greater efficiency, Metro could provide far more trips and enhance the mobility of people with disabilities through greater investment in both ADA paratransit and its fixed-route network. The objective of this project is to take current system information (currently have access to 18 months of back data) and provide a prediction algorithm for real time cost analysis thereby helping dispatchers and schedulers make informed, efficient routing decisions.