Bespoke services for personal travel and goods movement

New technology with portable location and communication devices allied to real-time information and control/management systems will provide opportunities for a wide range of bespoke services, which will offer real and attractive alternatives to conventional use of the private car. Such services will support travellers in their use of various forms of transport. These will range from conventional public transport with fixed services through to taxi-type operations, depending on the situations of the traveller and the journey. Various forms of collective, flexible and demand responsive services can be envisaged to ‘fill the gap’ between conventional public transport and taxis. New automated systems will also have a role to play. Equally, new technology to identify, track, trace, communicate with and optimise vehicles could lead to substantial reductions in urban vehicle travel. In order to achieve these reductions and still meet specific customer requirements effective coordination of customer needs and service provision is required. This could include online guidance and routing; the mapping of re-fuelling needs of electric/hybrid delivery vehicles with priority access; and the use of unattended collection/delivery points. This paper focuses on issues emerging from a multidisciplinary literature review, which assesses past, current and potential future bespoke transport services. The review draws on domestic and international experience to determine common characteristics and understanding learned from the operation of such services to identify issues and characteristics that should be considered in potential future applications.