A Multi-modal Ride Sharing Framework for Last Mile Connectivity.

Public transportation can provide efficient and economical mode of commute in a region. It can address the problem of traffic congestion and relevant issues of pollution and accidents. However, commuters find it difficult to access public transport because of the issues related to the first / last mile connectivity, and prefer the costly personalized mode of transport due to its flexibility and comfort. In this paper, we propose a multi-modal ride sharing framework for providing last mile connectivity to the public transport users. The integrated framework offers users the most appropriate mode of commute or the mixture of them for the first / last mile connectivity. The functional components of the framework are described along with the infrastructure requirement for a large scale deployment. In particular, the communication protocols, and the distributed computing model are elaborated. Finally, the challenges and operational issues that needs to be addressed for a successful deployment of the system are highlighted.