On Accessibility and Sustainability for Rural Communities: Optimal Models for Integrated Passenger and Freight Transportation

Abstract

Transportation plays a vital role in providing access to essential services such as education and healthcare. However, rural communities often struggle with inadequate transportation systems due to low population density, forcing individuals to depend on personal vehicles or transport modes that may pose safety risks, such as walking or hitchhiking. To address these challenges, this study proposes implementing an integrated passenger and freight transportation system utilizing public transportation and parcel lockers. This integration involves transporting people and goods on the same vehicle with dedicated capacities. Considering that public transport vehicles are not too occupied in rural areas compared to urban, utilizing the free space in the vehicle for carrying small parcels presents a resource-efficient solution. Two models have been developed for this proposed network. The first model decides on the number and location of bus stops and parcel lockers. The second model establishes public transport’s route, schedule, and capacity allocations. The proposed model is compared with another model where passenger and freight services operate independently to demonstrate the added value of freight integration. The results indicate that the proposed model reduces the total operational cost and CO2 emissions. Furthermore, by providing this service, the rural residents’ accessibility to essential services is enhanced. The proposed network is also discussed in the context of cultural sustainability, and avenues for future research are outlined.