Factors Influencing Willingness to Pool in Ride-Hailing Trips

Yi Hou, Venu Garikapati, Dustin Weigl, Alejandro Henao, Matthew Moniot, Joshua Sperling

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus Citations

Abstract

In the past decade, transportation network companies (TNCs) such as Uber, Lyft, and Via have established themselves as a viable transportation alternative to other modes. However, the popularity of these services has come with a fair share of criticism for their negative externalities such as increasing vehicle miles traveled and congestion in cities. Pooled ride-hailing trips, in which all or a part of two individual (or group) trips are combined in and served by a single vehicle, have the potential to reduce these externalities. Pooling of rides is an effective solution to reduce congestion and travel cost, but pooled rides still represent a small percentage of the total trips served (and miles driven) by TNCs relative to single-occupancy (and without customer) vehicle miles. Both TNCs and cities alike will benefit from understanding what factors encourage or deter pooling a ride-hailing trip. In this study, newly available Chicago transportation network provider data were explored to identify the extent to which different socioeconomic, spatiotemporal, and trip characteristics affect willingness to pool (WTP) in ride-hailing trips. Multivariate linear regression and machine-learning models were employed to understand and predict WTP based on location, time, and trip factors. The results show intuitive trends, with income level at drop-off and pickup locations and airport trips as the most important predictors of WTP. Results from this study can help TNCs and cities devise strategies that increase pooled ride-hailing, thereby reducing adverse transportation and energy impacts from ride-hailing modes.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)419-429
Number of pages11
JournalTransportation Research Record
Volume2674
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© National Academy of Sciences: Transportation Research Board 2020.

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/JA-5400-74531

Keywords

  • ride pooling
  • ride-hailing
  • ride-sharing
  • TNCs
  • Transportation Network Companies
  • willingness to pool

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