Skip to main content
My Napier
Staff intranet
Jobs
Libraries
Staff directory
Edinburgh Napier University
Courses
Study areas
Accounting and Finance
Acting
Biological Sciences
Building and Surveying
Business and Management
Computing
Criminology Psychology and Sociology
Design, Photography & Advertising
Engineering
English, Creative Writing and Publishing
Film, Journalism and Media
Health and Social Care
Law
Marketing
Music
Nursing and Midwifery
Sport and Exercise Sciences
Teaching
Tourism Hospitality Festival and Events Management
Study with us
International students
Undergraduate
Postgraduate
Online study
Graduate apprenticeships
Short courses
Funding your studies
Student life
Celebrating success
Accommodation
Widening Participation
Research degrees
Research and innovation
Business & Innovation Hub
Explore our research
Our research centres
Meet our researchers
Research degrees
Our research environment
Public engagement
Repository
Global
International College
International partners
Exchange programmes
Transnational education
Global research
Alumni
Alumni news
Benefits and Services
Get involved
Give something back
About us
Working at Edinburgh Napier
Term dates
Events
Our location
Our schools
News
University leadership
Official merchandise
Contact us
All
Courses
Staff
News
Events
Research
Bursaries
Home
Research and innovation
Research explorer tool
Projects
Research project
TSB Rural Transport - Improved information sharing for the more intelligent use of Demand Responsive Transport: A UK Booking Portal
This project considers the role played by planning systems in the delivery of rural public transport. The project develops
with industrial partners, a portal available to Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) and Community Transport (CT)
operators, that have been excluded for both technological and cost reasons.
Although Demand Responsive Transport (DRT - shared door to door public transport) has developed in a number of
urban and rural areas, such schemens have tended to be localised with no mechanism to offer services further afield -
beyond the narrow local knowledge and sometimes word-of-mouth networks. A strict limitation exists to becoming aware
of such services - for example if you wish to book DRT in Cornwall, does it exist?, biut also impacting on the ability of the
local communities to take up such services, or for the operator to acheive appropriate loadings, indeed sustainable
services at all. Transport providers, particularly smaller ones, cannot offer their services to potential users easily, even
though demand and spare capacity exist, as they cannot afford to invest in advanced scheduling systems.
A DRT Management Portal will match the demand for shared transport to the supply and allow passengers to actually
book transport in real time. The project will develop a significantly more accessible system (technologically and
financially) in comparison with those currently in place which tend to be limited to large operators. The project will develop
and trial such a system, with the trial demonstrating how existing operators can interface to their current systems and
new, smaller, operators can offer their services directly.
To achieve this outcome, innovations are required in scheduling, communications and digital Map user interfaces
intended for use within the portal via the Internet. Organisationally, transport providers will be able to communicate and
share their services more widely, with the project demonstrating how such an approach can remove the barriers to shared
travel.
The project team comprises two industrial partners and two academic partners plus promised co-operation from local and
regional authorities in Scotland.
Start Date:
1 April 2009
End Date:
30 November 2011
Activity Type:
Externally Funded Research
Funder:
Innovate UK
Value:
£
51591
Accept Cookies