MARKETING AND PROMOTION OF DEMAND-RESPONSIVE TRANSPORTATION. SPEAKER 1

The fare changes made in the Haddonfield, New Jersey demand-responsive transportation (DRT) system, their impact on public attitude, and their effect on ridership are briefly described. Basically, two fare structures and a free-fare day have been in operation since the inauguration of the demonstration. A substantial increase in daily ridership, and a 26 percent increase in vehicle supply occurred during the free-fare day. The average productivity increased by 50 percent and the quality of service, as measured by promised pickup time, decreased. The number of cancellations and no-show customers (another measure of service quality) during the free-fare day was 3 times higher than the normal. The effect of fare reduction from 60 to 30 cents per ride could not be isolated because of the parallel changes in the mode of operation (shuttle, zonal, computer scheduling) and, possibly, the energy crisis. However, the effect of fare reduction and improvement or additions to the service resulted in high elasticity of demand. This observation conforms with experiences of conventional transit systems, whose riders are more sensitive to service quality or travel time changes than to fare changes. The comparison of the DRT systems with conventional transit systems indicates that the riders of DRT respond to fare changes (at the 60-cent fare level) similarly to riders of conventional transit systems.