The paratransit is a flexible and widely used transportation
mode in Asian developing cities. Several types
of paratransit in this region include Jeepny in Manila;
Bemo, Opelet, and Mikroket in Jakarta; Hired Motorcy
cle, Song Thaew, and Siro Lek in Bangkok. The paratransit
usually provides a service along local streets that
connect residential areas to main streets with public transit
services. This paratransit can penetrate through local
streets that often are too narrow and long to fit larger public
modes, e.g., bus. However, existing paratransit systems
are not well established and organized for easy incorporation
with the transits. Therefore, this study proposed to
apply the paratransit as being a feeder of BRT with a well
integrated design plan. Its route services demands from
urban sprawl to the stations along BRT corridors. The
integrating of BRT and paratransit, such as facilities and
fare system integration would be established. A well-designed
BRT with paratransit feeder integration would
yield significant impact in terms of getting people out of
their cars and onto public transit. Feeder connections
would not only increase BRT capacity, but also improve
the accessibility of communities around BRT stations.
Figure 1 demonstrates the system integration design of
BRT and paratransit feeder. At BRT station, the smallsize
Terminal & Parking facilities are provided. The terminal
for paratransit system would be established there
as a starting point of route service among small connectors.
In addition, long-term parking lots would be provided
for small vehicles, e.g., motorcycles and bicycles.
The temporary parking area would be provided for temporary
parking vehicles, e.g. taxi, to pick up/drop off the
BRT passengers. At the end of the BRT corridor/high demand
service stations, Park & Ride (P&R) facilities would be provided for private car users to park their cars
and transfer to BRT system for access to the CBD.