Recent technological advances have made feasible new and improved approaches for organizing and delivering local passenger transportation. This book draws on a selection of papers presented at the International Paratransit Conference in Monterey in October 2014 to capture these exciting developments.

1. Introduction - Corinne Mulley and John D. Nelson SECTION I: CONTEXTS 2. Paratransit: The Need for a Regulatory Revolution in the Light of Institutional Inertia - Marcus Enoch and Stephen Potter 3. The Paratransit Brokerage Model: Removing Barriers and Containing Costs - Alaina Macia 4. Development and Status for Large-Scale Demand Responsive Transport - Yngve Westerlund SECTION II: OPERATIONAL ASPECTS 5. German Experiences with Volunteer-Based Paratransit and Public Transport - Martin Schiefelbusch 6. a Visualisation Tool for Planning Passenger Transport Services in Rural and Low-Demand Settings - Chukwuemeka David Emele, Steve Wright, Richard Mounce, Cheng Zeng and John D. Nelson 7. Paratransit Cost-Allocation Model Adjustments to Promote Agency Ridesharing and Vehicle Timesharing - Steve Yaffe 8. Decision Making in Flexible Transport: The Importance and Application of the ‘Golden Rule’ - Corinne Mulley and Geoffrey Clifton 9. International Perspectives on Paratransit Policies and Approaches to Deliver Accessible Transportation - Eliane Wilson 10. from the Concept of Flexible Mobility Services to the ‘Shared Mobility Services Agency’ - Giorgio Ambrosino, John D. Nelson, Marco Boero and Dora Ramazzotti SECTION III: CASE STUDIES 11. Paratransit in Sub-Saharan African Cities: Improving and Integrating Informal Services - Eric Bruun and Roger Behrens 12. UK DRT: from Niche Market to Total Transport? - Barry Connor 13. Community Transport in Australia - David Denmark and Nick Stevens 14. Demand Responsive Transport and Citizen Experiences: Insights from Rural Norway - Merethe Dotterud Leiren and Kaare Skollerud 15. the Roles of ‘Conventional’ and Demand-Responsive Bus Services - Peter White SECTION IV: THE FUTURE 16. Technology Changing Market Feasibility - Roger F. Teal 17. An Innovative Concept for Paratransit: Flexible Mobility on Demand - Bilge Atasoy, Takuro Ikeda and Moshe E. Ben-Akiva 18. Transportation Network Companies and Paratransit: Issues and Opportunities - David Koffman 19. The Future of Paratransit and DRT: Introducing Cars on Demand - Jennifer L. Kent and Robyn Dowling

Drawn from the International Paratransit Conference, “Shaping the New Future of Paratransit,” held in Monterey, California, in October 2014, along with commissioned contributions, the 19 papers in this volume examine issues and trends related to flexible transport systems for people with disabilities and others. Transportation, engineering, and other specialists from around the world discuss changing contexts, including the role of regulatory and institutional structures, nonemergency medical transport, and the development of large-scale demand responsive transport; operational aspects like the role of volunteers, rural transport planning, cost reporting, decision making, delivering accessible transportation, and the concept of the Shared Mobility Services Agency for planning and managing collective transport services; case studies of sub-Saharan African cities, the UK, Australia, and rural Norway; and the future of new and evolving forms of paratransit and on-demand transport, including transportation network companies and carsharing.