Social optimal shifts and fares for the Barcelona taxi sector

Abstract

This paper applies a mathematical model for supporting the decision and policy making in the city of Barcelona, presenting the key performance indicators of the Barcelona taxi market, which are waiting/access time and benefits of the drivers. The model accounts for demand elasticity, which allows for estimating the optimum fare level and estimating the related demand for taxi services, which allows the taxi decision makers to have a rough estimation of the taxi sector turn over. In addition, the model is applied to a full-day time period, allowing for useful insights on the duration and distribution of the taxi shifts that should be defined by the taxi policy makers as well as the optimal operation mode for each interval of the day. Finally, the model implementation in the city of Barcelona determines that the optimum fares for the taxi sector is 0.68 euros/kilometer and the optimum number of taxis is 19 taxis/km2. In this situation, the most effective taxi policy is to have 4 days with an 8-h shift and one day with two non-consecutive 4-h shifts every week.