THESIS
2021
1 online resource (xvi, 152 pages) : illustrations (some color)
Abstract
The rapid expansion of on-demand ride-sourcing services has had substantial impacts on the
way people travel and on multi-modal urban transport systems. As the demand for convenient
and comfortable mobility grows, ride-sourcing services are becoming the preferred travel
solution for more people. This brings not only opportunities but also challenges to the entire
transport system. The huge demand for ride-sourcing puts enormous pressure on ride-sourcing
platforms, as more efficient and effective responses are required. It also generates a massive
volume of road transport and thus has negative effects on efforts to shape a sustainable travel
mode structure.
From the perspective of the government, shared mobility should be encouraged. More
importantly, regulation is needed to coordinate t...[
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The rapid expansion of on-demand ride-sourcing services has had substantial impacts on the
way people travel and on multi-modal urban transport systems. As the demand for convenient
and comfortable mobility grows, ride-sourcing services are becoming the preferred travel
solution for more people. This brings not only opportunities but also challenges to the entire
transport system. The huge demand for ride-sourcing puts enormous pressure on ride-sourcing
platforms, as more efficient and effective responses are required. It also generates a massive
volume of road transport and thus has negative effects on efforts to shape a sustainable travel
mode structure.
From the perspective of the government, shared mobility should be encouraged. More
importantly, regulation is needed to coordinate the ride-sourcing mode with multiple travel
modes, such as public transit and taxis, and to balance the interests of multiple stakeholders.
From the perspective of ride-sourcing platforms, the focus is not only on maximizing profit
while alleviating the demand-supply imbalance to improve user satisfaction but also on
accommodating the government’s regulations and better coordinating with public transit.
Motivated by these issues, several models are established to examine two main questions. First,
how should a platform design appropriate strategies to address the demand-supply imbalance
problem? Second, how should a platform optimize its own benefits under government
regulations addressing the first/last-mile problem? To answer the first question, we select two
emerging strategies (i.e., the bundled service option and the upgrading of services) promoted
by ride-sourcing platforms among multifold solutions. We formulate the multi-period ride-matching problem with added complexity brought by the introduction of a third bundled service
option. By using a tailored algorithm to solve the problem, we also investigate the implications
of this strategy. In the situation with multiple classes of service, we establish a network
equilibrium model and study the joint effects of operating strategies including upgrading,
pricing, and vehicle repositioning. To answer the second question, we derive the optimal
decisions of ride-sourcing platforms under the government’s price-cap regulation and subsidy
policy and demonstrate the potential impacts of such regulations on public transit ridership and
platform revenue. Furthermore, we introduce a ride-pooling service into a multi-modal network
to analyze the effects of the corresponding operational strategies on the role of the ride-pooling
service as a feeder or competitor of public transit. In this thesis, we offer operational insights
for platforms on choosing appropriate strategies in response to demand-supply imbalance or
different government regulations associated with the first/last-mile problem.
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