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Any successful method of public transport must be competitive with private car use (dark blue line). Only the
10% COAST system (red line) achieves this across the demand scenarios, and these outperform the
conventional shared car and shared tax, based on the assumptions used. The taxi is the most expensive
transport mode under all scenarios. The bus performs competitively in time and cost terms only in a high
demand environment, and is by far the slowest and expensive mode during lower demand scenario.
Two examples of how COAST scheme might operate are described below.
Example of COAST from a passenger perspective
Consider a person who wishes to travel from home and reach her place of work during the morning rush hour. It
is raining, the nearest bus stop is a 10-minute walk away, and the drop off point is also a 10-minute walk to her
place of work. Not surprisingly she doesn’t wish to use the bus in this situation. However, as an alternative to
using her car she decides to check the possibility of using the COAST system.
She has the option of booking the journey by a variety of media devices such as telephone, mobile telephone
texting or the Internet. Most communication systems contain an identification system, therefore, as soon as
contact is made with the LCC her identity and location could have already been found.
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Moreover, she
regularly undertakes the same journey at a similar time on each weekday and has used COAST before, so her
previous journeys are held on a central secure database (providing she allowed this option) so this trip could
have been specifically predicted by the LCC from the call.
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The LCC will therefore be able to present her with
options of her most likely journey and the cost for this almost immediately. In addition, it displays the likely
departure and arrival times with any uncertainties in the times based on previous journeys and anticipated traffic
densities on the road. A guaranteed fee is also stated based on the likely time and cost of the journey. Therefore,
this entire procedure could be potentially finalised within seconds of the initial contact.
The frequency of COAST enabled vehicles passing along her approximate route is high due to the travel request
being issued during the rush-hour period. Therefore, even if a suitable vehicle is not immediately available, it is
possible to provide her with information of the likelihood of a vehicle that has not commenced its journey
passing her way during the next 10 minutes. In the event of a suitable vehicle not being available, a conventional
shared taxi can be diverted as a backup option. The travel request display would look something like this:
Assumed Journey 6 Arlington Crescent, Trowbridge NA45 7AU to GHK Ltd Brompton Rd NA56 5SD
Persons 1 Adult
Driver Registered Female EZ 8245 6734 (with picture)
Time now 8.11 am 16/07/2014
Guaranteed time of departure 8.15am +/- 1 mins. 16/07/2014
Estimated time of arrival at destination 8.45am +/- 5 mins. 16/07/2014
Cost (excluding individual time) £3.60
Car Registration WG18 KNG
In this case the LCC identifies a COAST activated vehicle that has already commenced its journey and a vehicle
a pick up time is offered within several minutes of the booking. She is alerted one minute before arrival by a
signal on the same media portal the order was issued on.
The vehicle arrives on time; she checks the cars and drivers identity and boards immediately.
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During the
journey, the driver needs to pick up one more passenger and drop of another. This requires diversions from the
quickest route which adds a few extra minutes additional time to the journey. However, on arrival at her
destination she is dropped off straight outside her office building door, rather than the usual procedure of
parking 200 metres away. This compensates for the extra time due to the diversion and also prevents her from
getting wet.
The cost of the fare is weighted to allow for the time taken and distance travelled for each person, but is
relatively cheap because the cost of the journey is shared between the passengers. As a consequence, she pays
11 This identification is purely for the purpose of speeding up the booking process up and co-ordinating probable trips in advance.
Information would be confidential/or erased outside this requirement. A slower standard ‘taxi’ booking procedure could be used if requested
12 If enough people use the system, public journeys could be predicted, so a substantial amount of pre-planning could be performed without
booking in advance.
13 Failure to do this would forfeit a fee. Unreliable users would be restricted from using COAST. Other restrictions could apply in the
interests of security, for example the option of using a female driver. This approach would provide greater security for the traveller and
driver than on current public transport and most taxi schemes.
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