Analysis on Commercial Carpooling Applications’ Further Development in China

Abstract

As the internet develops, ride-hailing applications have become an integral part of people’s life. Carpooling is one of plenty forms of service that the ride-hailing platform usually provides. As a service in which users share the cost evenly, choosing a ride-sharing service inherently provides users with an economic advantage compared with other forms of ride-sharing service. However, the market for ride-sharing services is not as broad as the overall online ride-hailing market, and the market for carpooling services has not yet reached saturation, indicating that the industry still has room to expand. The article uses the Game theory to justify the expanded possibility of carpooling exists, as well as choosing to carpool shows the best response for both passengers and local drivers among all types of service offered by ride-hailing platforms. Then, the article points out factors that influence users’ diverse attitudes toward carpooling in China, based on the data collected from the questionnaire. Finally, the article combines the feedback results of the questionnaire survey and relevant case studies, such as the research on DIDI, to give the carpooling service market a strategy to amplify the advantages of carpooling to stabilize the existing customer base and make up for the disadvantages to increase the potential customer base.