Study on the Implementation of an Efficient Rural Public Transport System

At European and national level, there is a deficit in terms of public transport services in rural areas, compared to urban areas. The main problems of rural areas are the lack of accessibility to efficient public transport services, the motivation of potential users and street infrastructure. The paper presents an analysis of the principles of designing and implementing an efficient transport system in a rural area. An example was taken of a rural region in Brasov County, which includes Bran and Moeciu de Jos, Predelut, Pestera and Poarta. The area is characterized by many tourist attractions and relaxation, but also by mobility and accessibility problems faced by both locals and tourists. If most of the studies and concerns in Brasov County so far have focused on sustainable urban mobility and the problems of the metropolitan area, it is necessary to pay attention to rural areas (especially touristic ones). In order to solve these problems, alternatives of sustainable rural public transport were identified, which would solve the mobility problems of the region. The study shows how to implement a Dynamic Demand-Responsive Transport (DDRT). This system combines the efficiency of public transport with the convenience of private transport to offer a cost-effective alternative to classic transport. The analysis was based on the principles and methods studied within the international project Mobirural. The Mobirural project aims to identify good practices related to mobility services in rural areas focused on: Digital and physical infrastructure for rural mobility. In the analysis carried out, a proposal for an on-demand public transport service for the chosen region was proposed, studied and calculated. For the service proposed for implementation on the calculation side, the following parameters were taken into account: rural area served; fleet size; vehicle speed; vehicle capacity; operating schedule; stop points; stop time; time window; number of requests; demand pattern.