RESEARCH PAPER
Dynamic pricing schemes for reliability improvement in demand-responsive feeder transit systems
1
School of transportation Engineering, Dalian Jiaotong University, Dalian 116028, China, China
2
Xinchang Depot of China Railway Shanghai Group Co., Ltd., Haian 226600, China, China
Submission date: 2025-04-13
Final revision date: 2025-07-08
Acceptance date: 2025-09-20
Online publication date: 2025-09-26
Publication date: 2025-09-26
Corresponding author
Cheng juan Zhu
School of traffic & transportation Engineering, Dalian Jiaotong University, Dalian 116028, China., China
School of traffic & transportation Engineering, Dalian Jiaotong University, Dalian 116028, China., China
Eksploatacja i Niezawodność – Maintenance and Reliability 2026;28(2):211143
HIGHLIGHTS
- Flexible scheduling boosts DRFT reliability by aligning with passenger time windows.
- Design dynamic pricing schemes to assess their impact on DRFT system reliability.
- Assessed reliability of integrated dynamic pricing, flexible scheduling & shared rides.
KEYWORDS
Demand-Responsive Feeder TransitPublic transit system reliabilityDynamic pricing schemeFlexible departure
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
This research investigates reliability improvement for demand-responsive feeder transit (DRFT) with simultaneous pick-up and drop-off using dynamic pricing scheme. The fare model adjusts charges based on arrival punctuality-compensating passengers when vehicles miss their time windows, with compensation proportional to delay duration. The flexible departure system is designed to enhance connection reliability. The optimization model maximizes operator profit while minimizing passenger costs, constrained by vehicle operating time, passenger time windows, capacity limits, and drop-off schedules. A multi-chain genetic algorithm solves this multi-objective routing problem. Case studies demonstrate: 1) Flexible scheduling outperforms fixed scheduling in connection reliability and operational profitability; 2) Dynamic pricing scheme surpasses fixed fares in connection reliability, profitability, and resource utilization. The integrated approach significantly enhances overall DRFT system reliability.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72171033), the Liaoning Provincial Natural Science Foundation (JDL2019037), and the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Project of Dalian Jiaotong University. Special thanks to the research team for their invaluable contributions to data collection and analysis. The authors also extend their appreciation to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback, which greatly improved the quality of this manuscript. Open access funding was provided by Dalian Jiaotong University.
FUNDING
This research was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72171033), Liaoning Provincial Natural Science Foundation (JDL2019037) and Humanities and Social Sciences Research of Dalian Jiaotong University-Supporting the Special Research Project on the Integration and Development of Humanities and Social Sciences (General Project).
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| eISSN: | 2956-3860 |
| ISSN: | 1507-2711 |
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