Opting for shared rides with a flexible pick-up and drop-off schedule could be the way forward to finding alternative modes of transport that truly work, research by the University of Malta has found.
Researchers from the Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable Development, working with the Vodafone Malta Foundation, found that implementing “demand responsive transport” (DRT) could offer a solution to the traffic problem that has for years plagued the island.
Through the DRT project, which was piloted among the University’s staff and students, the researchers tested out the efficiency of providing transport via a web portal and application.
The DRT system is shared and on-demand: passengers share the vehicle with other passengers for personalised trips.
During the pilot study, a van picked up and dropped off passengers at their requested destinations as part of efforts to test whether such a mode of transport could encourage a shift from personal car use and reduce traffic congestion.
According to the researchers, the DRT system was found to be “a feasible alternative to the use of the private car for commuting to and from the University”.
Passengers share the vehicle with other passengers for personalised trips
To provide the service, the researchers developed the app Vjaġġ, which was used to estimate travel demand, collect journey paths, make traffic congestion estimates and provide users with journey information.
A soft launch of the app took place last summer and was fully rolled-out at the start of the scholastic year in October.
Flexible routing services would allow access throughout different areas rather than on specific, fixed routes, the researchers found. This would make providing the service on a wider scale more feasible.
“For locations with a strong tourist dimension, improved and flexible public transport encourages tourism without cars while improved mobility generally increases the level of economic activity in an area,” the researchers pointed out.
While the project proved successful from a technological point of view, the researchers said, it was also found to be cost efficient, despite the service costing double the cost of public transport.
“The cost difference with the public transport system is due to the superior quality of service, while the difference when compared to school transport is due to this being essentially a pre-booked system and vehicle occupancy is higher,” the researchers wrote in their report on the pilot project.
The project, which was funded by the Vodafone Malta Foundation, was led by Maria Attard and Adrian Muscat.