Evaluating Demand-Responsive Scheduling in Public Transportation Service Offerings to Retirement Communities

This project addresses alternatives to fixed schedule local transportation service offerings to members of retirement communities. The project design measures the effects of the contrast between fixed schedule (Fixed) service and demand-responsive services (DRT) in retirement communities in Santa Clara County that are closely matched in demographic profiles and geographic location. The research team investigates the effects of scheduling alternatives in a diary format with a within-person variable of four recent trips. The measure of public transportation usage under the Fixed schedule and DRT service offerings is supplemented by a measure of subjective well-being (STS) for each trip—in other words, the project tracks not only how much/when participants use these public transportation models but also how they feel about its use. Results indicate that the community with DRT service had significantly higher public transportation usage and STS ratings than the committee with fixed schedules. Evaluations of the service provider Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) from DRT community members trended higher but were not significantly different across each item measures in the scale. These results show the potential benefits of flexible transportation options in enhancing mobility and satisfaction among older adults and can provide informative insights for policymakers to make improvements in mobility for this group and everyone.