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Abstract

The environmental, social, and economic cost of current car dependence is well known. But people tend to be unwilling to forgo the convenience of private transport. Personal Public Transport (PPT) is a new concept combining the environmental advantages of public transport with the flexibility of the car. The key elements of PPT are new multi-hire modes provided by maxitaxis and taxibuses to supplement single-hire taxis and scheduled services; integration of all modes into a single system; and provision of real-time information and booking systems enabling individual passengers to communicate with the transport system, whether they be at home, on street or in transit. This paper describes how PPT will integrate various technologies, such as automatic vehicle location systems, multi-hire dispatching systems, advanced passenger information systems, and smart card billing systems, together with some of the latest developments in Personal Public Transport. While the technical aspects of PPT are expected to be solvable relatively easily, establishing a complete PPT system will require institutional and regulatory change and a willingness to innovate by both transport operators and regulators. The paper describes changes occurring in Australia in the taxi and bus industries and in regulatory arrangements that will facilitate PPT, and sets out models for establishing PPT systems. It also assesses the potential for PPT from a marketing perspective and its relationship to new developments in urban planning. The paper concludes with a prognosis of how urban transport systems will evolve under the influence of environmental pressures, social values and technological developments, and of how our cities will emerge from the mass transit and private transport eras of the past to the new era of Personal Public Transport and Personal Rapid Transit.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5038/2375-0901.1.3.4

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