Development of Important Relationships for the Planning of Flex-Route Transit Services

The rapid expansion of low-density suburban areas in North America has led to new travel patterns that require transit services to be more flexible. Flex-route transit service, which combines fixed-route transit service with elements of demand-responsive transit service, has emerged as a viable alternative to fixed-route transit in suburban areas because of its ability to serve dispersed demand patterns and satisfy the travel needs of residents in these areas. This paper aims at exploring some flex-route service planning issues by developing an analytical model that incorporates some of the impacts that replacing fixed-route transit with flex-route service will have on several stakeholders. The model also provides a method for estimating slack times using some service design parameters. The paper uses a hypothetical case and a sensitivity analysis to demonstrate the validity of the slack time model.