Examining factors influencing the adoption of solo, pooling and autonomous ride-hailing services in Australia

Abstract

While ride-hailing has become ubiquitous in most metropolitan areas, it is still unclear how it prevails in the regional areas, especially after the emergence of new services of pooling or self-driving rides. This paper contributes to this knowledge gap by examining the regional/metropolitan dimension in the factors influencing the frequency of ride-hailing use and the demand for pooled and autonomous vehicle (AV) rides in Australia. Through individual-level survey data, we found that there is indeed a divide between factors affecting not only the frequency of using ride-hailing in the status quo but also in the future adoption of new services of pooled and AV-based services. Using the hybrid discrete choice model, we identify several latent psychological constructs that influence the use of ride-hailing services, namely being pro-technology, pro-pooling, pro-AV, anti-driving and security-cautious traits. Moreover, the results of multivariate models point to different observed and latent characteristics influencing the adoption of pooled and AV ride-hailing services for various trip purposes. In line with the literature, it was found that the socio-demographic characteristics that affect the frequency of use or adopting pooled and AV services in future include gender, age, income, education attainment, employment status, car ownership, and the current travel behaviour. We also found that ride-hailing in Australia has played more as a substitution role for public transport, private car and taxi than as a complementary role or feeder of the public transport system, both in the metropolitan and regional areas.