Finding taxi service management opportunities based on the analysis of choice behavior for passengers with different travel distances

Abstract

Taxis aim to provide door-to-door service for passengers. While the emergence of online car-hailing service (OCS), which is also known as ride-hailing service or ride-sourcing service, provides passengers with a new travel alternative, and, meanwhile, revolutionizes the taxi industry. OCS proves to be a competitive challenger to traditional taxi service (TTS), and the market share of the traditional taxi declined sharply. For taxi companies and drivers, the travel distance directly affects their income. It is necessary for taxi companies to understand the choice behavior of passengers with different travel distances to provide targeted services and enhance their competitiveness. In this paper, passengers are classified into three categories including short-distance passengers (less than 3 km), medium-distance passengers (3-9 km) and long-distance passengers (outside 9 km). Three binary logit models are developed respectively for each passenger group to investigate the factors affecting passengers' choice behavior. The results indicate that the major concerns vary across different groups. Short-distance passengers and medium-distance passengers are concerned about the comfort level. Long-distance passengers are sensitive to safety level, waiting time and drivers' service attitude. Moreover, long-distance passengers have the highest sensitivity to waiting time, followed by safety level and service attitude. The results contribute to taxi companies in improving services and developing business strategies. The results can also help management departments make policies.