Spatiotemporal Analysis of Competition Between Subways and Taxis Based on Multi-Source Data

Abstract

Excessive competition between taxis and subways has eroded the advantages of public transit systems such as worsening road traffic congestion and environment. This study aims to improve the appeal of subways by a comprehensive understating of competition between taxis and subways. We investigate competitive relationship between these two transportation modes by using empirical multi-source data. First, non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) algorithm is used to discover the spatiotemporal travel patterns of subway-competing taxi users (SCTUs). Second, we propose a new index to quantify the competitiveness of subways based on the actual mode choices results. Then, we reveal the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of competitiveness from perspective of subway network. Taking Beijing, China, for a case study, we extract a week’s worth of GPS records on taxi trajectory and smartcard data of subways. Subway-competing taxi trips (SCTTs) account for the largest proportion of the total taxi trips. As a result, three basic patterns are found in SCTTs. Subway station pairs with high and less competition are divided according to competitiveness index. Among low competition station pairs, three spatial structures are observed, including low-competition collinearity corridors, radial communities, and links between paralleled subway lines. Combining the distribution results of travel pattern and competitiveness degree, short-term and long-term planning suggestions are recommended respectively for station pairs with high demand but low competitiveness and those with low demand and low competitiveness. These findings provide useful insights into promoting more effective and sensitive policies to balance the competition and attract more taxi passengers to the subway system.