Feasibility and Performance of Flex-Route Transit Service in Suburban Areas

Flex-route transit service is a promising option to serve low-density urban areas. In this paper, we investigate the feasibility and benefits of replacing fixed-route transit routes in a suburban area by flex-route service. Three routes in the City of Oakville (a suburb of Toronto, Canada), that connect with the regional commuter rail (GO Transit) were chosen for the analysis. A simulation of the routes under the existing structure and under several flex-route designs was performed. The results show that assigning an appropriate slack time is essential in having an effective service, and that more slack time does not necessarily translate into more ridership. The results also show changing these fixed routes to flex-route design will enhance the performance of the routes in terms of ridership and vehicle performance if the increase in ridership relative to the added slack time is comparable to that of the fixed-route service.