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Fly-by transit: A novel door-to-door shared mobility with minimal stops

Wenbo Fan, Weihua Gu

TL;DR

Fly-by transit (FBT) presents a near-term modular mobility solution that combines trailer and leader mini-EVs to form high-speed trunk platoons via stationary coupling, with tail-trailer in-motion decoupling to maintain door-to-door service. A corridor-based proof-of-concept, supported by steady-state and techno-economic analyses, demonstrates that FBT can substantially reduce travel times relative to buses and lower operating costs than taxis, while achieving strong economies of scale as demand grows. The work provides a rigorous design framework, cost models, and an optimal design problem, showing robust performance across demand and wage scenarios and outlining a concrete research agenda spanning strategic planning, transition pathways, network design, simulation, and real-world experiments. Overall, FBT offers a practical pathway to balance accessibility, mobility, and cost-effectiveness in urban mobility, with potential dual-use for urban logistics through modular trailers.

Abstract

This paper introduces fly-by transit (FBT), a novel mobility system that employs modular mini-electric vehicles (mini-EVs) to provide door-to-door shared mobility with minimal stops. Unlike existing modular minibus concepts that rely on in-motion coupling and passenger transfers -- technologies unlikely to mature soon -- FBT lowers the technological barriers by building upon near-term feasible solutions. The system comprises two complementary mini-EV modules: low-cost trailers for on-demand feeder trips and high-performance leaders that guide coupled trailers in high-speed platoons along trunk lines. Trailers operate independently for detour-free feeder services, while stationary coupling at designated hubs enables platoons to achieve economies of scale (EoS). In-motion decoupling of the tail trailer allows stop-less operation without delaying the main convoy. As a proof of concept, a stylized corridor model is developed to analyze optimal FBT design. Results indicate that FBT can substantially reduce travel times relative to conventional buses and lower operating costs compared with e-hailing taxis. Numerical analyses further demonstrate that FBT achieves stronger EoS than both buses and taxis, yielding more than 13\% savings in generalized system costs. By addressing key limitations of existing transit systems, this study establishes FBT as a practical and scalable pathway toward transformative urban mobility and outlines directions for future research.

Fly-by transit: A novel door-to-door shared mobility with minimal stops

TL;DR

Fly-by transit (FBT) presents a near-term modular mobility solution that combines trailer and leader mini-EVs to form high-speed trunk platoons via stationary coupling, with tail-trailer in-motion decoupling to maintain door-to-door service. A corridor-based proof-of-concept, supported by steady-state and techno-economic analyses, demonstrates that FBT can substantially reduce travel times relative to buses and lower operating costs than taxis, while achieving strong economies of scale as demand grows. The work provides a rigorous design framework, cost models, and an optimal design problem, showing robust performance across demand and wage scenarios and outlining a concrete research agenda spanning strategic planning, transition pathways, network design, simulation, and real-world experiments. Overall, FBT offers a practical pathway to balance accessibility, mobility, and cost-effectiveness in urban mobility, with potential dual-use for urban logistics through modular trailers.

Abstract

This paper introduces fly-by transit (FBT), a novel mobility system that employs modular mini-electric vehicles (mini-EVs) to provide door-to-door shared mobility with minimal stops. Unlike existing modular minibus concepts that rely on in-motion coupling and passenger transfers -- technologies unlikely to mature soon -- FBT lowers the technological barriers by building upon near-term feasible solutions. The system comprises two complementary mini-EV modules: low-cost trailers for on-demand feeder trips and high-performance leaders that guide coupled trailers in high-speed platoons along trunk lines. Trailers operate independently for detour-free feeder services, while stationary coupling at designated hubs enables platoons to achieve economies of scale (EoS). In-motion decoupling of the tail trailer allows stop-less operation without delaying the main convoy. As a proof of concept, a stylized corridor model is developed to analyze optimal FBT design. Results indicate that FBT can substantially reduce travel times relative to conventional buses and lower operating costs compared with e-hailing taxis. Numerical analyses further demonstrate that FBT achieves stronger EoS than both buses and taxis, yielding more than 13\% savings in generalized system costs. By addressing key limitations of existing transit systems, this study establishes FBT as a practical and scalable pathway toward transformative urban mobility and outlines directions for future research.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 36 sections, 2 theorems, 36 equations, 12 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Background
  3. Research motivation and contribution
  4. Literature review
  5. Conceptual development of MAVs
  6. Operations with variable capacity
  7. Operations with in-motion transfer
  8. Microscopic dynamics of coupling and decoupling
  9. Research gaps
  10. Concept development
  11. Fly-by transit concept
  12. Preliminary techno-economic analysis (TEA)
  13. Proof of concept
  14. Steady-state equations
  15. Operator cost
  16. ...and 21 more sections

Key Result

Proposition 1

When $J^*$ is bounded at the boundary $J_{\mathrm{max}}$, the optimized FBT systems exhibit EoS proportional to $\lambda^{-\frac{1}{2}}$.

Figures (12)

  • Figure 1: Impossible trinity of urban mobilities.
  • Figure 2: FBT vehicle modules: (a) trailer, (b) leader, compact design for one or two seated with no inter-vehicle passageway.
  • Figure 3: Coupling and decoupling system in EU-MSC gobillot2018esprit.
  • Figure 4: Stability tests of operating platoons (at up to 30 km/h) gobillot2018esprit.
  • Figure 5: Fly-by transit in a ring corridor (depicting half).
  • ...and 7 more figures

Theorems & Definitions (7)

  • Proposition 1
  • proof
  • Proposition 2
  • proof
  • Remark 1
  • Remark 2
  • Remark 3