Continuous Dynamic Optimization: Impacts on ADA Paratransit Services (2023) / Chapter Skim
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Chapter 1 - Overview of the Technology
Chapter 1 - Overview of the Technology
Pages 7-17
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From page 7... ...
In view of those changes, the CDO process then re-optimizes the assignment of trips to dedicated vehicle runs and to available overflow non-dedicated service providers to achieve the transit agency's desired balance of service/cost efficiency and service quality. Any research on CDO and how it currently affects ADA paratransit must begin with an underlying understanding of how both paratransit and the computerized scheduling technology that supports it have evolved over the years.
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From page 8... ...
When Multisystems ended its marketing agreement with GIRO a few years later, Multisystems developed its own paratransit scheduling system, MIDAS, which in large part used and further advanced the same scheduling algorithms that were demonstrated in Rochester in the mid-1970s. One of the features of the computerized paratransit scheduling systems from Trapeze and Multisystems that differentiated them from other paratransit scheduling systems of the 1980s was that they supplied ways for transit agency staff to directly configure the scheduling parameters to reflect both the environment in which the service operates and the balance between service/cost efficiency through the use of costing weights (described in the next section)
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From page 9... ...
Not surprisingly, several new computerized scheduling systems entered the market during this decade. Capabilities Needed for Paratransit Scheduling During the 1990s, and up until the advent of CDO in the late 2000s, paratransit scheduling focused on the need to handle next-day scheduling as required for ADA paratransit as well as the scheduling of advance reservations and recurring subscription trips (also called standing orders)
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From page 10... ...
Instead, their booking agents enter the trip requests into the paratransit scheduling/dispatching software and tell the customer that a confirmed pickup time or window will be forthcoming; as long as this happens on the day before the trip date, the agency meets the FTA's minimum requirement. Still other agencies do real-time scheduling but only to ensure that there is room for the trip.
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From page 11... ...
In the past few years, CDO for ADA paratransit services has been given another boost. A few microtransit technology vendors whose products were developed for on-demand microtransit services -- notably Via Mobility, Spare Labs, and RideCo -- added advance reservation and subscription booking capabilities.
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From page 12... ...
It is fairly common for agencies with ADA paratransit services to strive to be as productive as possible (as good stewards of public funds) without compromising service standards and while operating within often-limited resources (e.g., drivers, vehicles, and budget)
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From page 13... ...
With many computerized systems, a specific pickup time is translated into a pickup window, depending on the transit agency's pickup window policy. Most systems can also schedule a trip based on an appointment or a requested drop-off time; for such requests, a pickup time or window, as scheduled by the system at that point in time, is provided to the customer.
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From page 14... ...
But in any case, drivers of overflow providers need to be ADA paratransit certified -- that is, trained to proficiency, and drug and alcohol tested -- to serve ADA paratransit trips. As documented in TCRP Report 121: Toolkit for Integrating Non-Dedicated Vehicles in Paratransit Service: The main advantage of using a combined service structure that includes both dedicated and non-dedicated services is its cost-effectiveness in dealing with the inherent daily and seasonal fluctuations of demand.
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From page 15... ...
Links with Trip-Planning Software Another technological breakthrough with paratransit scheduling systems is the establishment of links between these systems and the transit agency's fixed-route transit trip-planning systems. This link comes into play with ADA paratransit services in two respects: maximum travel times and fares.
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From page 16... ...
CDO automates the proactive dispatching function in an objective way, which in turn enables the dispatch staff to focus on the here and now, because the barrage of problems that they are focusing on is lessened by CDO. If efficiency is lost because a trip on a dedicated vehicle is canceled, the CDO process will attempt to reschedule the trip to another run according to the decision rules discussed previously or to an available overflow provider -- whichever is the more efficient option overall.
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From page 17... ...
Other microtransit service models involve one or more transportation network companies and/or taxi companies providing the service with non-dedicated service providers or supplementing the dedicated vehicles operated by the transit agency or its contractors. In an interesting development, some of the technology vendors have become the sole prime contractor for such microtransit services, using individual drivers or operating entities (e.g., taxi companies)
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