Fare Strategy for Flex-Route Transit Services: Case Study in Los Angeles

Flex-route transit service is now the most popular type of flexible transits to serve low-demand areas. In this paper, we develop a strategy to help transit planners to determine fare policies when the current traditional fixed-route transits turn to a flex-route operating policy. Analytical modeling and simulations are developed to appraise the service quality provided to different groups of passengers under these two operating policies. To be closer to reality, two criterions, defined as Criterion (NRP) and Criterion (RP), are introduced for further analysis based on the processing of the passengers refused by deviation service. Criterion (NRP) represents the scenario that the refused passengers would switch to other means of transportation and not be considered in the calculation of service quality function, and Criterion (RP) means that the refused passengers would walk to nearest checkpoints for expected service vehicle and be considered in the assessment of cost indicators. In various scenarios, where demand responsive requests pay additional money for personal deviation services and regular riders could expect a discounted fare for the imposed delay, optimal fare policies are derived based on the change of service quality after applying flex-route operating policy. Also, it is found that only fares of regular riders are susceptible to the choice between Criterion (NRP) and Criterion (RP).