Inferring the Purposes of using Ride-Hailing Services through Data Fusion of Trip Trajectories, Secondary Travel Surveys, and Land Use Data

Abstract

This paper presents a data fusion methodology for inferring trip purposes from GPS trajectories of ride-hailing services in Toronto. The methodology has a discrete choice model at its core that predicts the most probable purpose distributions using only basic trip-related information such as approximate pick-up and drop-off locations, trip start times, and land use characteristics around the origins and destinations. The choice model is estimated using revealed trip purpose data from a small-sample travel survey augmented by land use information from an enhanced point of interest database and the census. The methodology is applied to the trajectories of commercial ride-hailing trips made in Toronto between September 2016 and September 2018. For the core choice model, multinomial, nested, and mixed multinomial logit models are compared. Validation of the inferred trip purposes using the trip purpose proportions from another independent survey (not used in choice model estimation) reveal that the multinomial logit model can infer ride-hailing trip purpose distribution with reasonable accuracy. The inferred purpose distribution explains the nature of ride-hailing trips and provides important context of travel demand generated by the services. The results indicate that although ride-hailing services are mostly used for discretionary activities, they also play important roles in daily commuter travel. A quarter of the total weekday ride-hailing trips were made for work- and school-related activities. With increasing ridership, these services may start influencing conventional travel modes and thereby adversely affect the level of traffic congestion and transit ridership in the city.