CONDITIONS AND MEASURES IN APPLYING PROPOSED SUSTAINABLE PUBLIC TRANSPORT SERVICES TO RURAL SOCIETIES

Abstract

 An increasing number of municipalities are shifting from so called “community bus” services provided by local government to demand responsible transport service using taxi cabs and mutually supportive individual transportation services using private cars of residents in order to provide a means of transportation for people living in rural areas. However, in rural areas with small populations, it is not easy to ensure the profitability and convenience of individual transportation services at the same time. Public expenditures by local governments are increasing year by year, and the current situation is becoming unsustainable. In order to solve these problems, this paper considers necessary conditions and proposed some practical measures for satisfy them in applying “Sustainable public transport service system”, a proposed new transport service that integrates volunteer transport drivers and taxis, to rural societies from both aspects of regulation and operation. The former confirmed that the proposed system does not conflict with the current legal system in Japan, and the latter proposed to increase the feasibility of fare design, integrated management of volunteer transport and taxi business, and transfer of profits from volunteer transport drivers to taxi business.