Night-time demand-responsive transport in seasonal tourism contexts: Evidence from Hakuba, Japan

This study investigates the behavioural and operational dynamics of a night-time demand-responsive transport (DRT) system in the alpine resort of Hakuba, Japan, within a digitally mediated service environment, with particular attention to the temporal and spatial patterns of seasonal tourism. Using a dataset of 5,232 completed trips, the analysis identifies the key drivers of demand intensity in a low-density mountainous context. The findings reveal a dispersed hub configuration, defined here as notable demand concentration at a limited number of functional stops combined with low geographic clustering and scattered local hotspots. This pattern reflects the role of DRT in connecting physically fragmented activity nodes. Moreover, the results highlight a distinct seasonal tourism rhythm: demand is shaped by month-to-month variation within the winter season and short-term temporal persistence, rather than conventional weekday–weekend cycles. The scale of passenger-carrying service delivery provides a baseline for understanding the operational demands of night-time DRT in rural, seasonally intensive tourism settings. The findings from the study suggest that DRT planning in such contexts should move beyond rigid, calendar-based approaches towards seasonally adaptive strategies that account for temporal persistence and spatial fragmentation in tourism-driven mobility systems.