Issues of Transit Integration

As it is privately operated and partially independent from the conventional modes, it could be very difficult for the policy makers to regulate the paratransit systems with a view to integrate it into the rest of public transport operations. Especially, if there is a lack of monitoring mechanism during the planning and operation processes of paratransit vehicles, this can cause problems. It would not be wrong to state that incoordination of paratransit vehicles is mainly a developing world transportation problem. In the developed world examples, public authorities control privately operated public transport services on a regular basis. In this sense, public authorities’

officials determine the range, price and quality of the service, length of routes and zoning measures of paratransit services. These regular arrangements make paratransit vehicles in developed countries much more compatible for integration operations. On the other hand, for the developing world, integration of the system into the existing public transport network is vital because, -as explained in the second chapter- the main aim of paratransit organization is to maximize the profit and that creates challenges for integrating this mode with metro or bus systems. Additionally, the lack of regulation accelerates this unequal structure between transportation modes.

The evaluation of issues of paratransit integration to the existing network can be made historically. This historical perspective would help to understand the difference between developed and developing country cases. In the very beginning of the private car era both in developed and developing world cities, there were systems, which were quite close to the paratransit systems of today. Actually, these systems emerged because of the lack of supply in the metropolitan areas. In developed country examples, the local governments allowed them for the diversity of the transportation network. As paratransit operations just began, they were not a major necessity for all users and they were very easy to cancel in this respect.

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Consequently, the local authorities of these developed countries have cancelled most of the operations (Dimitriou, 1990; Grava, 2003; Tekeli & Okyay, 1981). However, different from developed country experience, in developing countries, they have been the vital parts of the system in the last fifty-sixty years and it is very difficult to cancel this system entirely. In addition to this, there are some political concerns, which are hog-tying for the decision makers. As Tekeli (1977, 83) expresses, paratransit vehicles’ ownership organization structure and the management organization in developing world cities has an impact on the decision makers directly because of the political concerns of the local governments. Decision makers have very little to say about the organization of the paratransit vehicle drivers. The question is why this problematic structure continues its existence during the formalization process of transportation network. There should be some management and regulation to minimize the negative outcomes of the irregularity problem starting from the redistribution of surplus. In some developed world countries like Turkey or Mexico, the camaraderie between paratransit operators creates a pareto-optimum point between the operators (Cervero, 1998, 390; Tekeli et al., 1976). This structure firstly solves the redistribution problems and then the operational problems. That is why; these unregulation problems are solved automatically by the self-management system and users are not directly affected from them.

In terms of lack of negotiation, Tekeli and Okyay (1981) define the problem between the Turkish paratransit drivers and municipalities with the propositional phrase

“power relations problem”. As the case studies showed, this statement is valid for other developing country cases too (Cervero, 1998; Dimitriou, 2011; Grava, 2003).

The organization of the vehicle-owners is mostly horizontal for paratransit vehicles.

In most of the countries, there is a limitation on the vehicle numbers, which enables every vehicle owner to benefit from the rent. However as explained by Wright (1986, 9), while the owners are benefitting from the opportunities, contribution is very little to the city finance. In addition, being a horizontally organized group it is very difficult for the decision makers to deal with them. There is generally no single managing authority for these systems. Besides, their dominant impact on the other modes is another increasing factor of the license plate rents. It is thought that, this problem is specific to the developing world; however, the enormous cost of creating different public transport services provided an advantage to the paratransit vehicles if

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it is not controlled in the developed country cases. For example, jitney vehicles, which are quite common in developing world cities, emerged in the beginning of the 20^th century in the US. Around 1915, several states enabled the jitney operators to work in the central areas. However, these operations were cut off suddenly by the early 1920s. The reason behind limiting the operations was the lobbying of the streetcar companies. Jitneys were working parallel to the streetcar routes and the success of the jitneys directly influenced the ridership of streetcars (Grava, 2003;

Tekeli & Okyay, 1981). According to Vuchic (2007, 511) regular transit vehicles (streetcars) were obliged to operate on exactly specified routes, including heavily as well as lightly traveled ones, with announced headways throughout the day. Thus, they operated services with various financial results, including a number of non-remunerative ones. They had to provide public service under specified conditions.

That created a gap for flexible operating vehicles in the network. However, when the flexible operating vehicles in the form of jitneys exist, this creates a competition in which flexible vehicles and services can have several advantages as described in the section about advantageous characteristics of paratransit. Concerns and conflicts arising from such competition seem to have had an effect on the elimination of jitney services in the US case.

In developing world cities, a major problem is that most of the drivers in the sector and the vehicles are unable to meet the requirements for traffic such as minimum vehicle size, maximum age of fitness standards, etc. (Cervero, 2000; Vuchic, 2007).

Mostly, the price of the licenses to operate the vehicle is quite high, which makes it a significant sector in terms of urban economy. In addition, the ticketing of the system is mostly with cash. Independent from the electronic ticketing, mostly it is not possible for the authorities to follow the number of passengers carried by the paratransit vehicles. That creates a gray economy for paratransit services.

Additionaly, it is difficult to create an integrated ticketing formula for transport system integration because mostly, paratransit operators benefit from that lack of ground for legal action. Introduction of any new regulations, laws and requirements for paratransit necessitates the agreement of a multitude of vehicle owners and drivers, and this makes the regulation issue extremely difficult as it challenges any cooperation between public authorities and these individual private operators. That is

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why integration of paratransit modes is on one hand a necessity, even vital for the efficiency of the system and on the other hand a challenge for the decision makers.

3.2.2.4. Unreliability

Another negative characteristic of paratransit vehicles is unreliability. In fact, unreliability of paratransit vehicles depends on the service they provide. In the beginning of this chapter, it has been emphasized that the term paratransit covers vanpools, taxis, car sharing, dial-a-ride, jitneys etc. Unreliability measure is not valid for dial-a-ride services or taxis. However, jitneys, as the dominant type of paratransit in developing countries, are generally criticized for offering unreliable services in off-peak hours. Vuchic (2007, 67) indicates the following about the reliability issues of jitneys;

Because of their low capacity and much lower labor cost (they are often driven by their owners, who work long hours), jitneys operate with higher frequency, making them convenient for potential users. Their reliability and safety are lower than those of transit buses in cities where regular transit is well organized. Jitneys are used extensively in developing countries, particularly where labor costs are very low and regular buses do not offer sufficient capacity or quality of service.

Putting emphasis on the “off-peak” is vital for the unreliability measure. Researches show that during peak hours jitneys provide a convenient and reliable service because of the quick passenger loading as a result of small vehicle sizes (Adam Smith Institute, 1989; Grava, 2003; Tekeli & Okyay, 1981). During off-peak hours loading times of the vehicles increase and mostly owner/operator decreases the average travel time of the vehicles to increase the occupancy rate of the vehicles.

That result with the decrease in convenience and reliability.

Another problem about the reliability can be related to the route flexibility of vehicles. It was described above as a positive attribute that paratransit vehicles sometimes change their routes and skip many stops if their passengers are not requiring them to follow those routes and to get off at certain stops. Sometimes this can result in express services to a major trip attraction point, and this may be appreciated by those on board since this can reduce their travel time. However,

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change of routes would result in unreliability of services for those passengers who may be waiting for a vehicle on the routes that the drivers decide not to take. Service frequency may reduce for such passengers waiting at stops.

3.2.2.5. Congestion Effect of Low Capacity Vehicles

The last but not the least aspect of negative characteristics of the paratransit operation is its impact on traffic congestion. As emphasized in the previous characteristics, flexibility and reliability measures of paratransit is directly related with by request oriented routing and stopping characteristics of paratransit vehicles.

However, while these operational characteristics appeal to passengers on board, that they also cause traffic congestion for the other transportation modes. Tekeli et al.

(1976) express that, as in other informal sectors in the informal transport sector too, operators (or owners) aim profit maximization for no matter what it costs. That creates a burden that should be paid by system itself. In formally working systems, that burden is collectively compensated by all elements in the system. However, when informal operations exist, as there is no control on them, the burden created by their own profit maximization efforts are paid by the other users of the system (Işık

& Pınarcıoğlu, 2013; Tekeli, 1977). Congestion problem created by paratransit vehicles is inevitable because of lack of regulation and control especially in the developing world. Their frequent (and unexpected) stops in anywhere in traffic without considering other vehicles’ operations creates the congestion and sometimes traffic accidents.

In addition, paratransit vehicles are often small and low-capacity vehicles; and their low capacity on main routes compared with the bus and urban rail systems (in terms of vehicle size) results with the congestion problem too. Cervero (1998) states that as passenger volumes rise, the advantages of paratransit start to diminish, since smaller vehicles cannot cope with carrying large-line haul loads.

Vuchic (2007, 214) also emphasizes the importance of the vehicle size and unregulation with the following statement:

Due to their small capacity, minibuses operate in great numbers, offering frequent services and few stops along the line. Thus passengers enjoy frequent and fast service, but the comfort, safety and reliability of these

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vehicles are often below the standards required from transit services.

Operating with group taxis, vans, midibuses and buses, they cause congestion and very chaotic traffic conditions.

In brief, it is seen that paratransit systems offer many advantages but also cause some severe transport and traffic problems. It can be claimed that, while some characteristics are positive from paratransit users’ point of view, the same attributes also cause transport and traffic problems.