This paper studies the trip and personal characteristics of DFRT and DRT riders. It focuses on trip information, perceptions and especially the personal characteristics of the rural DFRT and DRT riders. A survey was performed to collect demographic and trip information of DFRT and DRT riders in Tennessee. Another survey was performed to collect demographic information of rural residents (i.e. predominantly car drivers) in DFRT and DRT service areas.
The trip information and perceptions sections of the survey explored what DFRT and DRT are used for (trip purpose), frequency of transit use, difficulty level of finding alternative transportation mode, and so on. The demographics of the DFRT and DRT riders are compared to the demographics of rural residents to investigate common or distinct DFRT and DRT rider characteristics. The characteristics can be used to locate the high DFRT and DRT demand areas to help DFRT route planning, thus serving as a good reference for future research.
This study begins with a literature review of the characteristics of ICB riders and ICB trip information from other studies. It is followed by the description of the DFRT, DRT and rural resident survey. Trip information and rider perceptions are then discussed. The demographics of DFRT and DRT riders are compared to car-driving rural residents. A model is then constructed to analyze the factors that influence rural residents’ mode choice of transit or car. The results are discussed and this section closes with concluding remarks. View Report
