In search of sustainable and inclusive mobility solutions for rural areas

European Transport Research Review

An Open Access Journal

Table 1 Categorisation of novel rural mobility solutions based on service flexibility variables

	Route	Stops	Scheduling	Booking	Ride-sharing	Vehicle type	Example cases from RESPONSE and SMARTA projects
Conventional public transport	Fixed	Fixed, can be skipped	Fixed	Not required	Shared	Bus, minibus
Designated tourist buses	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Required	Shared	Bus
Semi-flexible DRT	Fixed, semi-flexible*	Semi-flexible**	Fixed, flexible***	Required	Shared	Bus, minibus, car	Flextrafik (Denmark) TFI Local Link (Ireland) Elba island MaaS (Italy) Kylakyyti (Finnland) Tornio (Finland) Anropsstyrd trafik (Sweden) Bus Alpin (Switzerland) Connect2Wiltshire (UK)
Flexible door-to-door DRT	Flexible	Flexible	Flexible	Required	Shared, private	Minibus, car	GO-MOBIL (Austria) Flextrafik (Denmark) TFI Local Link (Ireland) Elba island MaaS (Italy) Bummelbus (Luxemburg) Bravoflex (Netherlands) HentMegSauda (Norway) Connect2Wiltshire (UK)
Car-sharing	Flexible	Semi-flexible****	Flexible	Required	Private	Car	Talbont Energy (Wales)
Ride-sharing	Semi-flexible	Semi-flexible****	Semi-flexible	Required	Shared	Car	REZOPOUCE (France)

*A route with pre-defined stops that may be skipped and served in a flexible order depending on current demand
**Stops may be predefined along a route or in an area and may be skipped and served in a flexible order depending on current demand
***Services that operate both fixed and demand-based schedules depending on the time of day or week
****Depending on pick-up and drop-off locations