Travellers’ perceptions about ride-hailing services in Lahore: An extension of the theory of planned behavior

Abstract

The emergence of ride-hailing services has helped in providing on-demand and flexible mobility choices to the riders. In this research study, a questionnaire was designed based on the variables of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). This survey was conducted in Lahore city and a total of 531 samples were collected. The collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) methods. Results revealed that there is a significant change in model split after the emergence of ride-hailing services as many people have started using ride-hailing services. The reliability of the TPB variables was confirmed with Cronbach's alpha value i.e., more than 0.7 for all the variables of TPB. The attitudes, SN, and PBC are significant predictors of behavioral intentions. The PBC is directly and negatively correlated with behavior which depicts that the traveler's perceived difficulty has a negative influence on their behavioral outcomes. These significant results implicate that affordability, service flexibility, female safety and security, presence of relevant regulations, driver's attitude, and service temporal and spatial coverage are important dimensions of service quality for improvement. The safety and security aspects can be enhanced by regulating ride-hailing services through proper regulations and providing operational guidelines to the service providers.