Evaluation of the Influence on Friendship Exerted by Introducing DRT: Case of On-Demand Transportation in Tamaki Town

Abstract

This paper evaluates the effect of introducing On-Demand Transportation (ODT) System developed by the university of Tokyo as a series of DRT (Demand Responsive Transport) on the local community. This study is based on the social network analysis using both ODT log data and questionnaire/interview. Social networks are extracted from ODT log data and the candidates for questionnaire/interview are chosen from networks. The combination of ODT log data and questionnaire/interview made it efficient to study the ties on the networks in sociological studies. This study revealed that many old people made new friends by using ODT in Tamaki Town.