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62-439: Madera County also is responsible for operating dial-a-ride point-to-point services in the unincorporated areas surrounding Madera and Chowchilla (MCC Madera and Chowchilla Dial-A-Ride, respectively), a demand-responsive bus for seniors in the rural eastern part of the county (Eastern Madera County Senior Bus), and a medical escort program (Eastern Madera County Medical Escort Service). Madera County Connection started in 2001 as

124-466: A mobile phone app or by telephone; telephone is particularly relevant to older users who may not be conversant with technology. One of the most widespread types of demand-responsive transport (DRT) is to provide a public transport service in areas of low passenger demand where a regular bus service is not considered to be financially viable, such as rural and peri-urban areas. Services may also be provided for particular types of passengers. One example

186-414: A central location, instead. Even more-formal terminals may just parking lots. The term "rank" denotes an area, specifically built for taxi operators by a municipality or city, where commuters may start and end their journey. Where they exist, shared taxis provide service on set routes within and sometimes between towns. After a shared taxi has picked up passengers at its terminus, it proceeds along

248-511: A collaboration between the PTAs in a joint venture, FlexDanmark , thus providing nationwide DRT-services (excluding some islands). There are three major operational areas: There is paratransit service ( palvelulinja, palveluliikenne ) in many cities and municipalities in Finland. It is mainly aimed at those who find it difficult to use other public transport, but often anyone who wants to can order

310-413: A consistent paint scheme for them, in practice the color of them varies wildly, as the "consistent" schemes have changed from time to time and many drivers have not bothered to repaint their cars. Rates vary depending on distance traveled, although these rates are generally well known to those riding the micro-bus. The fares also depend on the city. Riders can typically hail micro-buses from any point along

372-476: A day. Uses 60 vehicles and 10–20 more for school transport for children with special needs. A network of over 1,000 demand responsive transport routes are provided across rural Ireland under the TFI Local Link brand. Many of these routes are once a week services which operate a door-to-door pickup from a rural area into a nearby large town, where people can access shopping and other services, followed by

434-610: A demonstration service, providing transportation for children and their families to and from Children's Hospital Central California . Madera County let a five-year contract to the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission (EOC) in 2019 to operate county bus services, including MCC. Prior to that, separate contracts were held by Merced Transportation Company for MCC and the Community Action Partnership of Madera County for

496-639: A form of paratransit . They are vehicles for hire and are typically smaller than buses. Share taxis usually take passengers on a fixed or semi-fixed route without timetables, sometimes only departing when all seats are filled. They may stop anywhere to pick up or drop off their passengers. They are most common in developing countries and inner cities. The vehicles used as share taxis range from four-seat cars to minibuses, midibuses , covered pickup trucks , station wagons , and trucks . Certain vehicle types may be better-suited than others. They are often owner-operated. An increase in bus fares usually leads to

558-664: A hotel. In Ouagadougou , capital of Burkina Faso , the share taxi or taxi brousse role is not filled by the traditional African minibus. Those in Kinshasa , DRC , (or perhaps just the Kongo people ) may call share taxis fula fula meaning "quick quick". There was no independent transport authority in the city of Kinshasa as of 2008. Share taxis do exist in Cameroon , but as of 2008 minibuses cannot be used for this purpose, by law. That same year, Douala , Cameroon, also

620-423: A journey in advance. They may do this by booking with a central dispatcher who determines the journey options available given the user's location and destination. Increasingly, the booking is via an app, which provides the interface to software that creates a schedule in real time; adjusting the schedule to accept (or reject) bookings as they come in. This provides an instant decision for the potential user, but at

682-494: A number does exist. Also as of 2008, the city lacks an independent transport authority, but some regulation , such as that controlling market entry, does exist. Route syndicates may be present but are described as "various". In Ghana and neighboring countries, share taxis are called tro tro . They are privately owned minibus that travel fixed routes and leave when filled to capacity. While there are tro tro stations, these shared taxis can also be boarded anywhere along

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744-648: A paid adult fare. Riders may transfer to Fresno Area Express at Valley Children's Hospital for free, or to Madera Metro or Greyhound Lines at the Madera Intermodal Center. In addition, riders on the Eastern County route may transfer to Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System , which offers seasonal service to Yosemite National Park at stops along California State Route 41 in Coarsegold and Oakhurst. The Madera Amtrak station

806-521: A prototype service, GAD-About, which offered pre-booked door-to-door transport for its members, inspired by similar minibus usage in church and youth clubs. That was then cloned as an easily scalable module, under the aegis of London Transport, to become the Dial-a-Ride service launched as part the general services of Transport for London (TfL), rather than as a bus service. Examples of UK schemes include: The large majority of 1,500 rural systems in

868-468: A published schedule. Regulations concerning bus service registration and application of bus-operating grants for England and Wales were amended in 2004 to allow registration of fully flexible pre-booked DRT services. Some services, such as LinkUp, only pick up passengers at 'meeting points', but can set down at the passenger's destination. The Greenwich Association of the Disabled had earlier developed

930-486: A return service a few hours later with a door-to-door drop off back to the same rural area. Other routes include daily return services to/from colleges or employment centres, weekend evening services to/from a night-time activity centre, weekly services to attend Mass, feeder services to connect with scheduled bus and train services, and services on off-shore islands to connect with ferry departures and arrivals. Services are managed by 15 regional TFI Local Link offices across

992-487: A semi-fixed route where the driver may determine the actual route within an area according to traffic conditions. Drivers will stop anywhere to allow riders to disembark, and may sometimes do the same when prospective passengers want to ride. Most share taxis are operated under one of two regimes. Some share taxis are operated by a company. For example, in Dakar there are company-owned fleets of hundreds of car rapides . In

1054-899: A significant rise in usage of share taxis. Liberalization is often encouraged by libertarian urban economists, such as Richard Allen Epstein of the University of Chicago , James Dunn of Rutgers , and Peter Gordon of the University of Southern California , as a more "market-friendly" alternative to public transportation. However, concerns over fares, insurance liabilities, and passenger safety have kept legislative support for decidedly tepid. Some share taxi services are forms of demand responsive transport and include shared shuttle bus service to airports. Some can be booked online using mobile apps . A given share taxi route may start and finish in fixed central locations, and landmarks may serve as route names or route termini. In other places there may be no formal termini, with taxis simply congregating at

1116-1019: A transport-dedicated regulator , Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Agency (LAMATA). Outside of Lagos, most major cities in Africa have similar systems of transport. Syndicates in Lagos include the National Union of Road and Transport Workers (NURTW). Minibus public transports in Rwanda may be called coaster buses, share taxis, or twegerane . The latter could easily be a word meaning "stuffed" or "full". As of 2020, in Kigali , Rwanda, syndicates include RFTC, Kigali Bus Services, and Royal Express. Over 60% of South African commuters use shared minibus taxis, which are 16 seater commuter buses, sometimes referred to as kombis . Many of these vehicles are unsafe and not roadworthy, and often dangerously overloaded. Since

1178-511: A trip, the most efficient route will then be calculated depending on the origins and destinations of passengers. Share taxis are another form of DRT. They are usually operated on an ad hoc basis but also do not have fixed routes or times and change their route and frequency depending on demand. Some DRT systems operate as a service that can deviate from a fixed route. These operate along a fixed alignment or path at specific times but may deviate to collect or drop off passengers who have requested

1240-563: A trip. Red minibuses which serve non-franchised routes across the country, depending on routes, allow passengers to reserve their seats by phone such that operators and drivers are able to know where passengers are and how many there are in deploying their vehicles. Public transport authority in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik and the surrounding municipalities. Manages public bus transport and disabled transport, but does not have its own vehicles. About 1,300 enquiries and thousand trips

1302-414: Is a form of shared private or quasi-public transport for groups traveling where vehicles alter their routes each journey based on particular transport demand without using a fixed route or timetabled journeys. These vehicles typically pick-up and drop-off passengers in locations according to passengers needs and can include taxis, buses or other vehicles. Passengers can typically summon the service with

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1364-471: Is an example of DRT used for people with special needs (paratransit). DRT services have operated in some sparsely populated areas (under 100 p/km ) since 1995. PostBus Switzerland Ltd , the national post company, has operated a DRT service called PubliCar , formerly also Casa Car . Some DRT schemes were operating under the UK bus-operating regulations of 1986, allowed by having core start and finish points and

1426-527: Is approximately 5 mi (8.0 km) north of the Intermodal Center and requires a transfer to Madera Metro. Madera County has thirteen vehicles used for its transit services, of which nine are used by MCC; all nine are lift-equipped Starcraft Allstar 25 van cutaway buses with seating capacity of 15 passengers + 2 wheelchair users. Before 2019, the administrative office for MCC was at 1200 Maple Street; Madera County renovated an office space at

1488-469: Is not part of a government scheme, but is simply a market response to a growing demand for such services. Route syndicates and operator's associations often exercise unrestricted control, and existing rules may see little enforcement. In many traffic-choked, sprawling, and low-density African cities, minibuses are used. In Algeria , taxis collectifs ply fixed routes with their destination displayed. Rides are shared with others who are picked up along

1550-485: Is public transport, but with smaller vehicles that run on demand. Plustur is flexible transport that can be used in cases where the bus or train does not run all the way. Flexrute is public transport on demand - without a fixed timetable, which drives from stop to stop within a defined geographical area. There are also special needs school transport and paratransit services. The DRT-services in Denmark are maintained as

1612-440: Is the paratransit programs for people with a disability. The provision of public transport in this manner emphasises one of its functions as a social service rather than creating a viable movement network. DRT can be used to refer to many different types of transport. When taxicabs were first introduced to many cities, they were hailed as an innovative form of DRT. They are still referred to as DRT in some jurisdictions around

1674-619: The Soviet Union , share taxis, known as marshrutka , were operated by state-owned taxi parks. There are also individual operators in many countries. In Africa, while there are company share taxis, individual owners are more common. Rarely owning more than two vehicles at a time, they will rent out a minibus to operators, who pay fuel and other running costs, and keep revenue. In some places, like some African cities and also Hong Kong, share taxi minibuses are overseen by syndicates, unions, or route associations. These groups often function in

1736-716: The covid pandemic from 2020—caused the trials to fail. Lukas Foljanty, a shared-mobility enthusiast and market expert, keeps track of the different DRT schemes around the world and thinks a tipping point may have been reached in 2022. There were at least 450 schemes around the world, and in 2021 fifty-four new projects started within a three-month period. David Carnero of Europe-wide DRT technology company Padam said that successful DRT requires subsidies, must be delivered at scale, and must be part of an integrated, rather than competitive, transport policy. All 5 major Public Transit Authorities in Denmark provide door-to-door DRT services in different variants and degree. Flextur

1798-736: The 1,700 local governments in Japan have introduced DRT public transport services. The first ever demand-responsive transport scheme in Poland – called Tele-Bus – has been operated since 2007 in Kraków by MPK, the local public transport company (see also Tramways in Kraków ). Regional transport authority in Västra Götaland in southwestern Sweden is responsible for all public transport and for transport offers to citizens with special needs. This

1860-576: The 1940s, when Ghana still used the British West African pound and later the Ghanaian pound . Alternatively, its origin is not "three times three pence" but rather "threepence [thruhpnce, tro] each": doubling a coin's name in the vernacular means "that coin for each person (or item)". Three pence was the price per passenger in the early 1960s, when pounds/shillings/pence were still in use, including threepence coins, before decimalization of

1922-660: The 1980s, a second wave of systems were launched from the mid-1990s. There are now DRT schemes in urban and peri-urban areas as well as in rural communities. Operated by both public transport companies and private service providers, the DRT schemes are offered either as intermediate collective transport services for generic users or as schemes for specific user groups. DRT schemes operate in major cities including Rome , Milan , Genoa , Florence , and in several mid- to small-size towns including Alessandria, Aosta, Cremona, Livorno, Mantova, Parma, Empoli , Siena , and Sarzana. More than 200 of

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1984-527: The 1980s, share taxis have been severely affected by turf wars. Prior to 1987, the taxi industry in South Africa was highly regulated and controlled. Black taxi operators were declined permits in the Apartheid era and all minibus taxi operations were, by their very nature, illegal. Post-1987, the industry was rapidly deregulated, leading to an influx of new minibus taxi operators, keen to make money off

2046-429: The 35% of operating hours when the vehicles were carrying passengers, there was just one passenger (or a couple travelling together) for 74% of the time, and two passengers (or couples travelling together) for a further 20% of the time. The 15-seat minibuses could have been replaced by small taxis without capacity problems for 97% of the operating hours. Since the mid-2010s several DRT projects started up but failed. In

2108-575: The County Road Yard in Madera at 201 W. Almond Avenue and the contracted operator moved operations and maintenance activities to that location. Dial-a-ride Demand-responsive transport ( DRT ), also known as demand-responsive transit , demand-responsive service , Dial-a-Ride transit (sometimes DART ), flexible transport services , Microtransit , Non-Emergency Medical Transport ( NEMT ), Carpool or On-demand bus service

2170-473: The DRT service picks up passengers without pre-booking, due to the licensing issues. Issues may also arise surrounding tax and fuel subsidy for DRT services. Ridership on DRT services is usually quite low (less than ten passengers per hour), but DRT can provide coverage effectively. Analysis of the Yorbus DRT scheme in a rural area of the UK showed very little combination of individual travel needs. Of

2232-486: The Senior Bus and Escort Program. MCC operates its fixed routes on weekdays, with no service provided on specific holidays (New Year's Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas). All fixed routes originate and terminate at the Madera Intermodal Center in downtown Madera, at the intersection of E Yosemite Avenue and N E Street. One-way fares are $ 2 per passenger; children under 5 ride free with

2294-505: The US provide demand-response service; there are also about 400 urban DRT systems. As of 2022, at least 30 transit agencies in Florida have demand-response trips. Share taxi A share taxi , shared taxi , taxibus , or jitney or dollar van in the US, or marshrutka in former Soviet countries, is a mode of transport which falls between a taxicab and a bus . Share taxis are

2356-469: The US several DRT operators appeared and promptly failed, due to either lack of customers or health and safety issues. 2019 trials in London found that "satisfaction was really high"; users scored the service at 4.8/5 and praised ease of use, safety, cleanliness and accessibility. But low take-up, misunderstandings about who the service was for, and safety concerns about unlit stops—together with problems due to

2418-406: The absence of a regulatory environment and may collect dues or fees from drivers (such as per-use terminal payments, sometimes illegally), set routes, manage terminals, and fix fares. Terminal management may include ensuring each vehicle leaves with a full load of passengers. Because the syndicates represent owners, their regulatory efforts tend to favor operators rather than passengers, and

2480-442: The cost of efficiency: each individual travel need is considered individually, potentially resulting in higher levels of idle time (when the schedule has gaps that are too short to allow an additional journey to be added) and "dead mileage" (driving empty between one drop-off and the next pickup) than might be expected from a schedule built by an experienced human operator. DRT systems take advantage of fleet telematics technology in

2542-825: The country on behalf of the National Transport Authority (NTA) , and usually require prebooking by phoning the relevant office in advance. As of June 2023, there are no real-time app-based demand responsive transport services operating in Ireland, but in April 2023 the NTA informed suppliers that they intended "to procure a trial of and, if successful a roll out of, Smart Demand Responsive Transport services (SDRT), using app based products to secure services and routing algorithms to match vehicles with capacity to users". Following some pioneering DRT schemes implemented in

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2604-478: The currency into cedi and pesewa in 1965. In Ghana, tro tro are licensed by the government, but the industry is self-regulated. There was no independent transport authority as of 2008 in the capital, Accra. In the absence of a regulatory environment, groups called syndicates oversee share taxis. These may collect dues, set routes, manage terminals, and fix fares. In Accra as of 2008, such syndicates include Ghana Private Road Transport Union and PROTOA. Despite

2666-507: The deviation. DRT services are restricted to a defined operating zone, within which journeys must start and finish. Journeys may be completely free form, or following skeleton routes and schedules, varied as required, with users given a specified pick-up point and a time window for collection. Some DRT systems may have defined termini , at one or both ends of a route, such as an urban centre, airport or transport interchange , for onward connections. DRT systems require passengers to request

2728-464: The form of vehicle location systems, scheduling and dispatching software and hand-held/in vehicle computing. Vehicles used for DRT services are typically small minibuses sufficient for low ridership, which allow the service to provide as near a door-to-door service as practical by using narrower residential streets. In some cases taxicabs are hired by the DRT provider to serve their routes on request. DRT schemes may be fully or partially funded by

2790-575: The government has instituted a recapitalization scheme to replace the old and un-roadworthy vehicles with new 18- and 35-seater minibusses. These new minibus taxis carry the South African flag on the side and are notably more spacious and safe. Minivans and minibuses are used as vehicles for hire and referred to as dala dala in Tanzania . While dala dala may run fixed routes picking up passengers at central locations, they will also stop along

2852-512: The government, but the industry is self- regulated . In Accra , syndicates include GPRTU and PROTOA. Aayalolo , a bus rapid transit system opened in November 2016; however, most people continued to use trotros as of 2019. The term "tro tro" is believed to derive from the Ga word tro , "threepence", because the conductors usually asked for "three three pence", which was the standard bus fare in

2914-515: The health, environmental, and other detrimental impacts of car traffic typically by 50–70%, and if implemented could attract about half of the car passengers, and within a broad operational range would require no public subsidies". DRT schemes may require new or amended legislation, or special dispensation, to operate, as they do not meet the traditional licensing model of authorised bus transport providers or licensed taxicab operators. The status has caused controversy between bus and taxi operators when

2976-546: The high demand for this service. Taxi operators banded together to form local and national associations. Because the industry was largely unregulated and the official regulating bodies corrupt, these associations soon engaged in anti-competitive price fixing and exhibited gangster tactics – including the hiring of hit-men and all-out gang warfare. During the height of the conflict, it was common for taxi drivers to carry shotguns and AK-47s to simply shoot rival taxi drivers and their passengers on sight. Along with new legislation,

3038-560: The local transit authority , with operators selected by public tendering or other methods. Other schemes may be partially or fully self-funded as community centred not for profit social enterprises (such as a community interest company in the UK). They may also be provided by private companies for commercial reasons; some conventional bus operating companies have set up DRT-style airport bus services, which compete with larger private hire airport shuttle companies. DRT can potentially reduce

3100-422: The majority of passengers board. In these places, the share taxis wait for a full load of passengers prior to departing, and off-peak wait times may be in excess of an hour. In Africa, regulation is mainly something that pertains to the vehicle itself not its operator or its mode of operation. African minibuses are difficult to tax , and may operate in a "regulatory vacuum" perhaps because their existence

3162-486: The most important modes of transport in big cities like Addis Ababa . They are preferred by the majority of the populace over public buses and more traditional taxicabs because they are generally cheap, operate on diverse routes, and are available in abundance. All minibus taxis in Ethiopia have a standard blue-and-white coloring scheme, much as New York taxis are yellow. Minibus taxis are usually Toyota HiAces , frequent

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3224-456: The number of vehicles on the road, and hence pollution and congestion, if many people are persuaded to use it instead of private cars or taxis. For a model of a hypothetical large-scale demand-responsive public transport system for the Helsinki metropolitan area, simulation results published in 2005 demonstrated that "in an urban area with one million inhabitants, trip aggregation could reduce

3286-686: The regulatory challenges, the service was regulated during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana . There was 98% compliance to guidelines on physical distancing, although guidelines on individual use of face masks were more difficult to enforce. In the Ivory Coast , gbaka is a name for minibus public transports. The transport regulator in Abidjan , Ivory Coast , is Agence de Gestion des Transports Urbains or AGETU. As of 2008, Abidjan public transport

3348-399: The route to drop someone off or allow a prospective passenger to board. Before minibuses became widely used, the typical dala dala was a pick-up truck with benches placed in the truck bed . In Dar es Salaam , as of 2008, publicly operated minibus service also exists. They are usually run by both a driver and a bus conductor called a mpigadebe , literally meaning "a person who hits

3410-820: The route, often with well-established hand signals indicating the prospective rider's destination, although certain areas tend to be well-known micro-bus stops. Like the Eastern European marshrutka , a typical micro-bus is a large van , most often a Toyota HiAce or its Jinbei equivalent, the Haise , and the latter is produced by the Bavarian Auto Manufacturing Group in 6th of October City in Egypt. Smaller vans and larger small buses are also used. Minibus taxis in Ethiopia are one of

3472-571: The route. Operated by a driver and a bus conductor , who collects money, shouts out the destination, and is called a "mate", many are decorated with slogans and sayings , often religious, and few operate on Sundays. A 2010 report by The World Bank found that Tro tro are used by 70% of Ghanaian commuters. This popularity may be because in cities such as Accra had only basic public transportation save for these small minibuses. An informal means of transportation, in Ghana they are licensed by

3534-481: The streets. They typically can carry 11 passengers, but will always have room for another until that is no longer the case. The minibus driver has a crew member called a weyala whose job is to collect the fare from passengers. In 2008, publicly operated public transport was available in Addis Ababa in addition to that provided by the minibuses. A fleet of 350 large buses may operate for this purpose, as such

3596-478: The very termini syndicates upkeep can cost delays and money for passengers as well as forcing them to disembark at inconvenient locations, in a phenomenon called "terminal constraint". Some Francophone African countries use the term taxi-brousse ('bush taxi', often spelled with a space rather than a hyphen in English ) for share taxis. In some African cities, routes are run between formal termini, where

3658-688: The way, and the taxi will leave only when it seats all the passengers it can. While stations, set locations to board and disembark, exist, prospective passengers flag down a taxi collectif when they want a ride. Operating inter- and intra-city, taxis collectifs that travel between towns may be called interwilaya taxis . Along with all forms of public transport in Algeria, the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada recommend against using these share taxis. The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs asks that you use taxis recommended by

3720-419: The world as their very nature is to take people from point-to-point based on their needs. More recently, DRT generally refers to a type of public transport. They are distinct from fixed-route services as they do not always operate to a specific timetable or route. While specific operations vary widely, generally a particular area is designated for service by DRT. Once a certain number of people have requested

3782-893: Was serviced by large buses as well as minibuses. Syndicates include UPETCA and SNTMVCI. In Kenya , regulation does extend to operators and mode of operation (such as routes used) as well as the vehicle. In Mali , share taxis are called sotrama and dourouni . As of 2008, Bamako , Mali, has no independent transport authority, but share taxi activity could fall under regulator Direction de la régulation et du contrôle du transport urbain (municipal) or DRCTU control. In Morocco , intercity share taxis are called grand taxis . They are generally old full-size Mercedes-Benz sedans , and seat six or more passengers. In Nigeria , both minibusses (called danfo ) and midibuses ( molue ) may be operated as share taxis. Such forms of public transport may also be referred to as bolekaja , and many bear slogans or sayings . Lagos , Nigeria, has

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3844-467: Was without an independent transport authority. Egyptian share cabs are generally known as micro-bus ( mekrobass ميكروباص or mašrūʿ مشروع , "project"; plural mekrobassāt ميكروباصات or mašarīʿ مشاريع ). The second name is used by Alexandrians . Micro-buses are licensed by each of the governorates of Egypt as taxicabs, and are generally operated privately by their drivers. Although each governorate attempts to maintain

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