How Do People Prefer Ridesplitting? A Survey Study Focusing on Passenger, Matching, and Trip Characteristics

Abstract

Ridesplitting services have gained great popularity in recent years. Past research has stressed that passengers, social matching, and trip characteristics are users’ top concerns when choosing such services. The present study sought to uncover potential users’ preferences toward ridesplitting in terms of the three aspects. We conducted a survey study and leveraged logit and multivariate ordinal regression models to analyze the data. Our results show that most respondents preferred splitting a ride with others that they’ve known and that they cared about passenger’s characteristics. Their expectations of trip length and time were quantitatively revealed. Sociodemographic factors exerted impact in such a way that users of certain groups were more conservative toward ridesplitting services. To better deploy ridesplitting and increase its adoption among users, we would recommend that future services consider users’ preferences and sociodemographic information when matching different people. An accurately estimated travel time also appears to be desired.