Comparing Different Transit Strategies to Tackle the Last Mile Issue in Low Demand Areas
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Comparing Different Transit Strategies to Tackle the Last Mile Issue in Low Demand Areas: A Case study: York Region Transit by Samaneh Mozayani A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in Planning Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2019 © Samaneh Mozayani, 2019 Author's declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public II Abstract Providing public transit service in low-density suburban areas is very challenging and inefficient because development patterns and transit demand do not support regular scheduled bus services while flexible and on-demand service is very expensive to provide. A further issue is that effective public transit is essential for providing equal access to opportunities for the residents of these areas. This is a controversial issue in most Canadian cities where they have difficulties in providing sustainable public transit. Building upon the knowledge gained from an overview of the literature, this study aims at contributing to a better understanding of the crucial factors that influence the performance of public transit in low-density areas and develops a framework for evaluating different strategies for providing first/last mile transit service. In order to accomplish this goal the literature of transit system performance measures as well as transit mode choice are reviewed and 7 major criteria are selected: safety & security, cost, time, flexibility, comfort, coverage, and availability of information. Secondly, a systematic literature review is conducted to identify different strategies that can be implemented as a last mile solution in low density areas. Employing the seven criteria in an evaluation framework, these possible strategies are explained and compared. A case study using real data from York Region Transit (YRT) were utilized for comparing the two most common on-demand last mile strategies in the region. Results showed that outsourcing transit rides to instant ride-hailing companies –e.g. Uber- is financially beneficial to YRT and offers more coverage for potential riders, providing that reliability of their service is secured. III Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Woudsma, for the patient guidance, encouragement and advice he has provided throughout my time as his student. I would also like to thank my committee members – Professor Rob Feick and Professor Mark Seasons - for their time and attention they paid for improving my work and their insightful suggestions. Also I must express my gratitude to the administrative staff of planning department who helped me during my study. IV Table of contents List of figures .......................................................................................................... VII List of tables .......................................................................................................... VIII List of abbreviations ................................................................................................ IX 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1. The importance of public transit .................................................................... 1 1.2. Public Transit in Canada ............................................................................... 2 1.3. Problem statement and research question .................................................... 4 1.4. Framework of this study ................................................................................ 5 2. Literature Review ................................................................................................. 6 2.1. Transit performance indicators ...................................................................... 6 2.2. Factors affecting potential riders’ travel mode choice .................................. 11 2.3. How transit systems tackle the problem of the last mile .............................. 18 2.4. Conclusion ................................................................................................... 36 3. Methodology ...................................................................................................... 38 3.1. Overview ..................................................................................................... 38 3.2. Cost for provider .......................................................................................... 39 3.3. Spatial access to transit ............................................................................... 39 3.4. Temporal access to transit .......................................................................... 40 4. Case Study ........................................................................................................ 42 4.1. Overview ..................................................................................................... 42 4.2. Introduction to York region case study ........................................................ 42 4.3. York Region and last-mile service ............................................................... 58 4.4. Conclusion ................................................................................................... 67 5. Conclusion and discussion ................................................................................. 69 V 5.1. General discussion on urban development and transit accessibility ............ 69 5.2. Recommendations for improving transit service in low-density areas ......... 70 5.2. Research contribution .................................................................................. 71 5.3. Opportunities for further studies and research limitation ............................. 73 References ............................................................................................................. 75 Appendices .......................................................................................................... 103 VI List of figures Figure 1 - Flexible service type .............................................................................. 28 Figure 2 - Threshold for out-sourcing transit rides ................................................. 35 Figure 3 - York region location ............................................................................... 43 Figure 4 - York region population density based on census data 2016 .................. 45 Figure 5 - York region transit map .......................................................................... 47 Figure 6 - York region YRT and TTC transit map ................................................... 48 Figure 7 - YRT service type ................................................................................... 51 Figure 8 - YRT on-demand transit zone map ......................................................... 56 Figure 9 - DAR North service area ......................................................................... 61 Figure 10 - Revenue to cost ratio trends .............................................................. 108 Figure 11 - YRT Net Cost Per Passenger - Weekday Rush Hour ........................ 109 Figure 12 - YRT Net Cost Per Passenger - Weekday Non-Rush Hour ................ 110 Figure 13 - YRT Net Cost Per Passenger - Saturday .......................................... 111 Figure 14 - YRT Net Cost Per Passenger - Sunday ............................................. 112 VII List of tables Table 1 – Mode share for commuting in GTHA during 24 hr ................................... 4 Table 2 - Measures of the economic performance of public transit .......................... 9 Table 3 - Real-time information influencing transit ridership .................................. 17 Table 4- Search terms and number of results ........................................................ 19 Table 5 – Studies that covered bike-sharing and public transit .............................. 21 Table 6 - List of comparative studies on last mile solutions ................................... 32 Table 7 - Comparing the options for improving last-mile service ........................... 37 Table 8 - Population in 2016 and density of York Region ...................................... 44 Table 9 - YRT Performance indicators target ........................................................ 53 Table 10 - Minimum ridership target ...................................................................... 54 Table 11 - Comparison of the current situation to the targeted measures ............. 57 Table 13 - DAR spatial coverage ........................................................................... 61 Table 15 - Time coverage comparison ................................................................... 65 Table 16 - Ridership and provider's cost for selected routes ............................... 103 Table 17 - YRT service hours .............................................................................. 105 VIII List of abbreviations CUTA Canadian Urban Transit Association DAR Dial-A-Ride GIS Geographic Information System GTA Greater Toronto Area GTHA Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area GTFS General Transit Feed Specification TTC Toronto Transit Commission YRT York Region Transit TCRP Transit Cooperative Research Program VHT Vehicle Hours Traveled VMT Vehicle