The federal state of Baden-Württemberg aims at establishing demand responsive mobility services as an area-wide mode of transport in the future. In this context, the state has funded various pilot projects and provided scientific support since 2020. Starting in 2022, support has also been provided for the development of flexible services in the region and the on-demand transport funding programme has been continued.
The project "Begleitung ODV" continues the accompanying research of the existing projects and, in particular, evaluates the impact of the services, identifies framework conditions for effective and cost-efficient operation and anticipates future developments. The project also aims to contribute to the standardised processing and evaluation of operating data parameters across the state. To this end, the following questions are to be answered:
- How do demand responsive mobility services contribute to the "mobility guarantee" of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg (securing mobility)?
- How does the service impact existing public transport as well as mobility and user behaviour?
- How can demand responsive mobility services be developed in an economically effective and cost-efficient manner (taking into account the local structural conditions as well as the objectives and functionality of the services)?
- Which factors are the critical cost drivers (e.g. costs per service hour, costs per vehicle, costs per transport case)?
- How can demand responsive mobility services contribute to sustainability? How can their environmental impact be improved?
- Which further opportunities exist for demand responsive mobility services (autonomous driving, integration of social transport services, post-demand-responsive-transport)?
To answer these questions, the project consortium, consisting of the Wuppertal Institute and the "Planersocietät Frehn Steinberg Partner GmbH", conducts surveys of users and non-users of the systems, evaluates operating data, conducts qualitative interviews and organises annual workshops for project stakeholders as well as a training session for other funded on-demand projects in Baden-Württemberg.