Taxi-Vans on Rail

This paper presents an alternative that may address the convenience barrier for people using public transport at low-density nodes along existing railway lines. The system the authors are proposing uses taxi vans to collect people from their house then delivers them to a railway station where the van drives onto a rail wagon for the journey. At the end of the rail journey, the van drives off and delivers the traveler to their destination. Economically the proposal is costly in comparison to existing public transport but could be considered cheap if it was able to eliminate the need for new road capacity. The proposal needs further research in the relevance of the concept in terms of addressing the social barriers to people leaving their cars at home, some better costings and the attitude of the LTSA to having people in vans on trains. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E210413.