An insertion heuristic for scheduling Mobility Allowance Shuttle Transit (MAST) services

In this paper, we develop an insertion heuristic for scheduling Mobility Allowance Shuttle Transit (MAST) services, an innovative concept that merges the flexibility of Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) systems with the low cost operability of fixed-route bus systems. A MAST system allows buses to deviate from the fixed path so that customers within the service area may be picked up or dropped off at their desired locations. Such a service already exists in Los Angeles County. Line 646 operates during nighttime, transporting passengers between a business area and a nearby bus terminal; since the current demand of the service is very low, the service is entirely manageable by the bus operator, but a higher demand would certainly require the help of information technologies by means of a scheduling algorithm. We carry out a set of simulations to show the performance of the algorithm in the service area covered by the existing MTA Line 646 at different demand levels. The results show that our approach can be used as an effective method to automate scheduling of this line and other services similar to it. Au t o r' P ers on al Co py DO N OT D ist rib ut or R ep rod uc e