COMPARISONS OF PRODUCTIVITY OF FOUR MODES OF SERVICE IN ORANGE, CALIFORNIA

The Orange County Transit District has operated a community-service transit program in the city of Orange, California, since May 1975. Because of an adverse court ruling and a subsequent successful appeal, this service underwent four modal changes. These four modes provide a unique opportunity for comparison. In order of implementation, they were a demand-responsive dial-a-bus, a three-loop fixed-route bus system, a two-loop fixed-route bus system, and a demand-responsive dial-a-taxi system. The four systems were compared by using five performance indicators. The two demand-responsive systems were found more efficient and effective than the fixed-route systems. The dial-a-taxi system, during its first 3 months of operation, compared very favorably to the dial-a-bus system, and continues to show monthly improvements on each indicator. The information gained in this study may be of limited transferability, but the data suggest that dial-a-taxi can be very efficient and effective in serving cities or suburban areas with population densities of 1900/sq km (5000/sq mi) or less. /Author/