Analyzing the aspects of organising paratransit services in Vilnius

The main objective of the paper is to analyze some aspects of organising new paratransit services in Vilnius. The main presented scientific problem is the creation of a new transportation system integrating it into the existing one. The system in Vilnius is not well adapted to people with disabilities, and therefore special transportation services for people having impaired physical mobility do not meet the requirements established for paratransit services. To solve this problem, an objective of researching demand for new services in Vilnius, the impact of such service for the whole transport system and potential problems that could arise during the organisation and installation of new services have been set. In order to create such system, one needs to know the values of specific parameters identified with the help of an expert survey. Scientific literature and information obtained from the expert survey allow making a conclusion that new paratransit services are required and can be integrated into the existing system in Vilnius

Integration of the paratransit in urban public transport system / Paratransporto integravimo į miesto viešojo transporto sistemą aspektų tyrimas

The demand of transport grows along with road traffic. Congestion costs 1% of the GDP of European Union (European Union 2014) and also causes significant emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants. This problem could be solved by transfering a part of passengers from private modes of transport to the public transport. But the essential condition is a sustainable development which means the accessibility on equal terms. Therefore, attention to the focus group – people with movement impairements, is neccessary. Since even under ideal conditions some of those people will not be able to use the ordinary public transport services, a special transportation service, called paratransit, should be offered. In this paper the parameters of paratransit as well as their variations are analyzed. Also the wider application possibilities are considered. The aspects of integration of paratransit into the existing system, pottential barriers for the integration and conditions for the integration are highlighted. The main purpose of this paper is to formulate the scenarios for the integration of paratransit into the existing public transport system based on the analysis of the scientific literature and the best practices, which could be used to form a policy of improving the accessibility of the public transport for people with movement impairments. Santrauka  Transporto paklausa nuolat auga, o kartu su ja ir kelių eismo intensyvumas. Spūstys Europoje kasmet sudaro apie 1 % jos BVP (Europos Sąjunga 2014), dėl jų išmetama daug anglies dioksido ir kitų nepageidaujamų teršalų. Ši problema miestuose gali būti sprendžiama perkėlus dalį keleivių iš privataus į viešąjį transportą. Tačiau labai svarbu, kad vykdomi projektai atitiktų tvarios plėtros principus, pagal kuriuos numatomas viešojo transporto prieinamumas lygiomis teisėmis. Todėl būtinas dėmesys tikslinei žmonių grupei – žmonėms, turintiems judėjimo apribojimų. Kadangi dalis tų žmonių netgi esant idealioms sąlygoms negalės naudotis tradiciniu viešuoju transportu, jiems yra būtina specialioji transporto paslauga, vadinama paratransportu. Šiame straipsnyje yra išskiriami paratransporto paslaugos parametrai, jų variacijos. Taip pat analizuojamos platesnės šios paslaugos pritaikomumo galimybės. Išskiriami transportinės paslaugos integravimo į esamą viešojo transporto sistemą aspektai bei potencialūs barjerai ir sąlygos paratransporto paslaugai įdiegti. Šio straipsnio tikslas – remiantis mokslinės literatūros ir gerosios patirties analize suformuluoti paratransporto įdiegimo į veikiančią viešojo transporto sistemą scenarijus, kurie gali būti taikomi formuojant viešojo transporto prieinamumo žmonėms, turintiems judėjimo apribojimų, tobulinimo politiką. Raktiniai žodžiai: integravimas, pritaikomoji transporto paslauga, paratransportas, viešasis transportas, žmonės, turintys judėjimo apribojimų

Analyzing the aspects of organising paratransit services in Vilnius

The main objective of the paper is to analyze some aspects of organising new paratransit services in Vilnius. The main presented scientific problem is the creation of a new transportation system integrating it into the existing one. The system in Vilnius is not well adapted to people with disabilities, and therefore special transportation services for people having impaired physical mobility do not meet the requirements established for paratransit services. To solve this problem, an objective of researching demand for new services in Vilnius, the impact of such service for the whole transport system and potential problems that could arise during the organisation and installation of new services have been set. In order to create such system, one needs to know the values of specific parameters identified with the help of an expert survey. Scientific literature and information obtained from the expert survey allow making a conclusion that new paratransit services are required and can be integrated into the existing system in Vilnius

Evaluation of alternatives to integrate special transportation services for people with movement disorders

Integrating the most appropriate special transportation service for people with movement disorders model may result in great economy efficiency and social benefit balance. However, most existing researches are based on improving the accessibility of public transport services or development of routing and scheduling under stochastic input data. The aim of this paper is to project the evaluation algorithm for the purpose of assessing the appropriate model of integration which would enable the employment of existing resources and filling the gap in assurance the mobility needs of people with mobility impairments. This paper identifies the evaluation indicators which are selected from international publications. Firstly the performance indicators of special transportation services were selected, further the sustainable development of public transport services evaluation indicators were selected, classified and adjusted to the goal of this paper. As a final result of indicators selection, a set of indicators classified into two groups – cost and benefit - was carried out. The decision making is based on Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process and Fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution methods. A case study is provided to demonstrate the application of proposed evaluation algorithm