Canada's aging population and increasing disability rates pose a question for transportation: with over one-third of New Brunswick's population living with a disability, how can transportation meet the demand for those that require accessible transportation? Accessible Demand-Response Transit (DRT) services are crucial for those who cannot use private vehicles or public transportation. There is a need for data on the operation and travel patterns associated with DRT services in New Brunswick because new regional agencies are assuming transportation planning responsibilities and looking to expand services. This research used geographically aggregated passenger data from 6 months of trip-making by a DRT provider to estimate per capita trip rates, identify origin/destination pairs, and to pilot an exact solution method of Mixed Integer Linear Programming (Christie Method) for vehicle deployment. The Christie Method was able to reasonably replicate the conditions of the existing service provider subject to their level of service requirements and was then applied to a community use-case based on extrapolated trip rates. While effective, the exact solution approach increases processing time exponentially for any additional constraints, therefore other heuristic approaches may warrant future considerations.
