Spatial temporal pattern analysis on on-demand cab services in urban areas using GIS

Abstract

As an important component of the urban public passenger transportation system, cabs / taxi offers an all-weather, convenient, comfortable, and personalized travel services for the urban residents, as well as playing a key role in the urban passenger transportation development. Cab market has gained prominence over last 2-3 years in India, in the backdrop of entry of app based aggregators which has not only disrupted auto-rickshaw and traditional taxi market but also forced automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to revise their growth and marketing strategies. There is a randomness and lack of regularity of cab operation characteristics, to describe cab travel activity pattern. Inorder to plan and effectively manage on-demand cab services, and to improve better facility to public, there is a need to understand the underlying relationship between supply and demand. This study analyzed the urban cab location distribution characteristics from different temporal and spatial levels. In the time level, the difference with daily location and operation pattern (weekday versus weekends) is identified; in the space level, the cab location pattern over a space are explored. Cab coverage index and Standard deviation ellipse are the tools used in analysing the patterns over time and space frames. This research can be helpful for understanding urban cab behavior pattern, as well as the contribution to the geographical activity space analysis. GIS has been used as a supportive tool in the study