A simulation model for evaluating advanced dial-a-ride paratransit systems

This paper presents a simulation system that has been developed to model a variety of technology-oriented dial-a-ride paratransit systems operated in an urban environment. The latest advances in information technologies such as automatic vehicle location (AVL), digital telecommunication and computers have afforded a unique opportunity for public transit agencies to integrate these technologies in their paratransit systems for improved productivity and reliability. This opportunity has also prompted wide spread interest in quantifying the actual benefits that can be attained from such technological enhancement. The primary objective of the simulation model described in this paper was to facilitate the evaluation of the potential effects that these technologies may bring on a paratransit system. The paper discusses the general concepts, models and computational techniques applied in the simulation system, focusing on how various components are modeled and how they interact with each other in the overall simulation framework. The simulation system is applied to evaluate the potential operational improvement that may be attained from the application of automatic vehicle location technology. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.