Taxi Industry Research Articles

A Preliminary Feasibility Study of Electric Taxi Promotion in Hong Kong—Behavior Modelling of Driving Patterns and Preferences

In 2013, the first electric taxis were launched in Hong Kong. In 2021, the HKSAR government announced that no new registration of fuel-propelled private cars, including hybrid vehicles, will be granted by the year 2035. Local public policies have shown a breakthrough milestone in the passenger transport sector and fostered the development of a smart city in Hong Kong as an international metropolis. This paper aims to study the feasibility of gradually introducing electric vehicles (EVs) in the Hong Kong taxi industry in the next decade. In particular, taxi license owners’ intentions of purchasing electric vehicles for operational use and the driving behavior of taxi drivers in Hong Kong are investigated. Multiagent modelling with an integrated behavioral model is then adopted to analyze the survey data collected from 250 taxi drivers in Hong Kong, followed by interviews with industrial experts. The implications for future public policies are then discussed. To achieve emission reduction, the paper suggests a gradual, step-by-step promotion and transfer from conventional taxis to electric taxis in Hong Kong, with consideration of various factors and the interests of different stakeholders in the community.

The Minimum Effect of the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme on Precarious Working Conditions in South Africa’s Minibus Taxi Sector: An Industry Full of Pitfalls

ABSTRACT The minibus taxi is currently the most common mode of transport in South Africa, particularly for the low-income population living in townships. Minibus taxis are also seen as most people’s only option for mobility. With regards to the public transport system as a whole, the minibus taxi industry accounts for 68% of work journeys, followed by buses and trains. The sector remains, in a structural sense, in the informal economy, but is increasingly subject to overlapping mechanisms of formalisation and informalisation. In 1999, the government launched the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme (TRP) to formalise or restructure the minibus taxi industry. Part of this programme was to scrap unroadworthy or unlicensed vehicles. However, these annual scrapping targets have not been met. In my research, I have carried out a total of 58 interviews on employment conditions in the industry using qualitative research methods. Many taxi drivers and taxi marshals are placed in precarious conditions on a daily basis. These conditions contradict those set out in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, including the Sectoral Determination of compensation. While the government announced the TRP to formalise the industry, there continue to be difficulties and entanglements with formalising the industry that have adversely affected the impact of the programme. I argue that such pitfalls delay the transformation of the industry.

ADAPTABILITY OF PLATFORM COOPERATIVISM IN THE MALAYSIAN E-HAILING SECTOR: A CONCEPTUAL STUDY

Malaysia’s taxi sector is beginning to question platform capitalism. Penyatuan Pemain Industri Pengangkutan Darat Malaysia (PPDM) has called for the creation of a new government-led platform to replace the online platform companies that have exhausted the taxi industry ecosystem. However, discussions with the Malaysian Government remain parallel. This article uses the theoretical concept of platform cooperativism to explore its adaptability and the potential for transformation from platform capitalism in the Malaysian e-hailing sector. Through the development of the conceptual framework, a commons-based democratic management governance system based on platform cooperativism is developed to move away from platform capitalism, which is a corporate-driven profit-making and management structure. Four key elements for the proper management of platform cooperativism: governance, economy, technology and society can be fully adapted to the demands of PPDM by transforming them from the private sector. Consequently, the realisation of platform cooperativism has the potential to manage the Malaysian e-hailing platform as a shared asset for users and to enable the circulation of benefits within the community.Keywords: : platform cooperativism, gig economy, sharing economy, e-hailing, taxi industry

The impact of ridesourcing on equity and sustainability in North American cities: A systematic review of the literature

Research on ridesourcing has grown exponentially in recent years. This study details the results of a systematic review of 161 publications on ridesourcing that explore environmental sustainability and equity in North American cities. We identify five main areas of research. First, ridesourcing is associated with two modal shifts: a decline of the taxi industry and a more complicated association with public transit ridership. Second, several studies have documented workers' rights and the challenges of contingent labor. Third, demographic studies show associations between ridesouring and affluent riders, and spatial analyses indicate that ridesourcing may exacerbate existing patterns of inequity in cities. Fourth, ridesourcing has dubious claims to improve environmental sustainability: it has only a small effect on vehicle ownership, but it increases emissions associated with deadheading, and pooled services do not reduce vehicle miles traveled. Fifth, ridesourcing companies also tend to oppose regulatory responses and sharing data with potential regulators. The review concludes with suggestions on areas for future research.

Co-producing urban transport informality: evidence from owner-operator relations in the motor tricycle taxi industry in a Ghanaian town

Co-producing urban transport informality: evidence from owner-operator relations in the motor tricycle taxi industry in a Ghanaian town

Modeling taxi professional attitudes towards regulatory change and electromobility: evidence from Athens, Greece

ABSTRACT Worldwide, taxis hold a prominent position in urban mobility, as they offer comfortable and convenient transportation services. Recent technological developments create both new opportunities and limitations in the taxi industry and therefore regulatory reforms are required for the taxi market to properly adjust to and benefit from technological innovations, with fleet electrification currently in the spotlight. This paper investigates the attitude of taxi professionals with respect to embracing fleet electrification and accepting necessary regulatory reforms for that purpose. Data was obtained from a questionnaire survey among taxi professionals in Athens, Greece, and logistic regression models are exploited to analyze the factors affecting taxi market opinions on those two topics. Study outcomes can be proven useful in the sense that through profiling taxi professionals who are willing to adopt technological and regulatory reforms, incentive policies could be more targeted and economically efficient.

Distractions by work-related activities: The impact of ride-hailing app and radio system on male taxi drivers

Use of ride-hailing mobile apps has surged and reshaped the taxi industry. These apps allow real-time taxi-customer matching of taxi dispatch system. However, there are also increasing concerns for driver distractions as a result of these ride-hailing systems. This study aims to investigate the effects of distractions by different ride-hailing systems on the driving performance of taxi drivers using the driving simulator experiment. In this investigation, fifty-one male taxi drivers were recruited. During the experiment, the road environment (urban street versus motorway), driving task (free-flow driving versus car-following), and distraction type (no distraction, auditory distraction by radio system, and visual-manual distraction by mobile app) were varied. Repeated measures ANOVA and random parameter generalized linear models were adopted to evaluate the distracted driving performance accounting for correlations among different observations of a same driver. Results indicate that distraction by mobile app impairs driving performance to a larger extent than traditional radio systems, in terms of the lateral control in the free-flow motorway condition and the speed control in the free-flow urban condition. In addition, for car-following task on urban street, compensatory behaviour (speed reduction) is more prevalent when distracted by mobile app while driving, compared to that of radio system. Additionally, no significant difference in subjective workload between distractions by mobile app and radio system were found. Several driver characteristics such as experience, driving records, and perception variables also influence driving performances. The findings are expected to facilitate the development of safer ride-hailing systems, as well as driver training and road safety policy.

EFFECT OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF MOTORCYCLE TAXI BUSINESS IN NAIROBI COUNTY

In Kenya, the motorcycle taxi industry has thrived significantly after motorcycles below 150cc were zero-rated by the government in 2007. While several studies have been done on the motorcycle taxi business in Kenya, no conclusive study has examined entrepreneurial orientation. This research gap is what the study aimed to address by examining the transport sector characteristics and the entrepreneurial orientation sustainability of motorcycle taxi businesses in Nairobi County. The specific objective of the study was: to examine the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on the sustainability of motorcycle business in Nairobi County. The descriptive research design was adopted to explain the interaction between the determinant variables and entrepreneurial orientation on the sustainability of the motorcycle business. The study sampled 249 motorcycle taxi operators from a population in Nairobi County using a systematic random sampling technique. Primary data was used and the data was obtained from motorcycle taxi operators using questionnaires. For reliability, a pilot study was conducted. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to establish the existing relationships between the variables under study and data presented using tables, graphs, and charts. Findings revealed that entrepreneurial orientation had a significant influence on the sustainability of Motorcycle Taxi Businesses in Nairobi County. Based on the findings, it was concluded that motorcycle taxi businesses in Nairobi County are growing at a faster rate and becoming sustainable majorly due to entrepreneurial orientation. It was recommended that: Motorcycle taxi business owners and operators need to develop strategic orientation, as well as capture specific entrepreneurial aspects of decision-making styles, methods, and practices to improve their business performance and hence sustainability. KEYWORDS: Entrepreneurial Orientation, Motorcycle Taxi Business, Sustainable Business

APP-BASED RIDE SERVICES AND THE SUSTAINABILITY OF METERED TAXIS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Developments in technology have disrupted many industries. Companies can no longer afford to ignore such vital technology. Many people in South Africa believe that the entry of ride-hailing apps like Uber and Bolt threatens the future of the country's traditional taxi industry. The paper sought to ascertain the influence of app-based ride solutions on the sustainability of conventional metered taxis and the ensuing survival strategies. A hybrid approach using both qualitative and quantitative data was adopted. Twenty participants and 80 respondents provided the qualitative and quantitative data utilized. The results suggest high-quality services and comfort vehicles offered by app-based services like Uber and Bolt have harmed the long-term viability of traditional metered taxis in the Cape Town metropolitan area. Since the advent of app-based ride services (Uber and Bolt), metered taxi operators have faced new challenges, including technological advancement, the demand for high-end transportation, and changing consumer tastes. The research could be helpful to companies providing metered taxi services in Cape Town by pointing to ways to improve operations. Hopefully, the findings of this research will aid regulators and other interested parties in making it easier for taxi companies that use meters to compete. Theoretically, the study may also contribute to the literature on the subject.

Large-Scale Generalized Linear Models for Longitudinal Data with Grouped Patterns of Unobserved Heterogeneity

ABSTRACT This article provides methods for flexibly capturing unobservable heterogeneity from longitudinal data in the context of an exponential family of distributions. The group memberships of individual units are left unspecified, and their heterogeneity is influenced by group-specific unobservable factor structures. The model includes, as special cases, probit, logit, and Poisson regressions with interactive fixed effects along with unknown group membership. We discuss a computationally efficient estimation method and derive the corresponding asymptotic theory. Uniform consistency of the estimated group membership is established. To test heterogeneous regression coefficients within groups, we propose a Swamy-type test that allows for unobserved heterogeneity. We apply the proposed method to the study of market structure of the taxi industry in New York City. Our method unveils interesting and important insights from large-scale longitudinal data that consist of over 450 million data points.

Drivers Learn City-Scale Intra-Daily Dynamic Equilibrium

Understanding driver behavior in on-demand mobility services is crucial for designing efficient and sustainable transport models. Drivers’ delivery strategy is well understood, but their search strategy and learning process still lack an empirically validated model. Here we provide a game-theoretic model of driver search strategy and learning dynamics, interpret the collective outcome in a thermodynamic framework, and verify its various implications empirically. We capture driver search strategies in a multi-market oligopoly model, which has a unique Nash equilibrium and is globally asymptotically stable. The equilibrium can therefore be obtained via heuristic learning rules where drivers pursue the incentive gradient or simply imitate others. To help understand city-scale phenomena, we offer a macroscopic view with the laws of thermodynamics. With 870 million trips of over 50k drivers in New York City, we show that the equilibrium well explains the spatiotemporal patterns of driver search behavior, and estimate an empirical constitutive relation. We find that new drivers learn the equilibrium within a year, and those who stay longer learn better. The collective response to new competition is also as predicted. Among empirical studies of driver strategy in on-demand services, our work examines the longest period, the most trips, and is the largest for taxi industry.

Driving Sustainability of Minibus Taxi Industry in South Africa

Background: The minibus taxi is the leading commuter transport mode in South Africa, with a market share of about 70%. Despite the industry’s positive socio-economic contributions to the country, the management is handicapped by the industry’s informal nature among other issues. This study explored the sustainability initiatives for minibus taxi industry in South Africa, as the country and the rest of the world pursued the net zero emissions target by 2050. Method: The study was grounded in the theories of sustainable development and change management, pursued qualitative research methodology and constructivism research paradigm. Non-probability sampling process was used in selecting the participants from the minibus taxi industry in North West province, South Africa. The participants were interviewed and the interviews recorded, transcribed, coded and analysed for results through content analysis. Results: The outcome overwhelmingly preferred formalisation of the industry, which would improve management, commuter safety and reduction of carbon emissions, which would enhance competitiveness and sustainability. Conclusion: The formalisation of the minibus taxi industry would streamline its management and facilitate faster taxi electrification, when adoption of electrical vehicles commences in the country, drastically reducing carbon emissions.

The Need for Speed: The Impact of Capital Constraints on Strategic Misconduct

Under what conditions do firms engage in strategic misconduct? Why do they undertake actions that increase profitability yet break laws or violate strong norms often with costly consequences for public welfare? The strategic management literature offers two external constraints that might explain these actions. First, firms in highly competitive environments with few options for differentiation turn to strategic misconduct for survival. Second, firms that operate in weak regulatory environments adopt strategic misconduct to overcome market frictions that lack of regulation creates. This paper offers a third explanation – access to affordable financing. Existing research on capital constraints has demonstrated firms benefit greatly from additional capital but has yet to investigate its impact on strategic misconduct. I examine the impact of capital constraints on strategic misconduct in the minibus taxi industry in South Africa. Exploiting a natural experiment in which a financing company changed their interest rates due to nation wide protests, I assess the impact of declining interest rates on over 5000 firms from 2015 to 2020. Using an instrumental variable analysis, I find that firms given lower interest rates decrease strategic misconduct, measured by speeding alerts and aggressiveness with other firms, and are more likely to survive. Exploring potential mechanisms through survey and qualitative analysis, I find suggestive evidence that binding capital constraints and high penalties for default might drive these results. My findings suggest that the reduction of capital constraints for firms under duress might increase both firm survival and public safety presenting implications for how we might approach building sustainable and resilient firms and communities.

Uncovering Factors Affecting Taxi Income from GPS Traces at the Directional Road Segment Level

Nowadays, the market demand for taxis is still intense. However, there exist lots of issues affecting the healthy development of the taxi industry, such as an increasing difficulty in hailing taxis, detouring behavior etc., and especially, the low incomes of taxi drivers. This paper establishes a multi-layer road index (MRI) system of 7862 directional road segments (DRSs), and collects over 194 million occupied GPS points within a week, revealing the factors affecting taxi drivers’ incomes in Shenzhen, China. The income differences has been identified on different DRSs, which accordingly have been categorized into two levels. Four categories of DRS factors, i.e., road attributes, traffic dynamics, points of interest (POIs), and taxi operation strategies, are defined as the impact factors affecting income levels. The selected sample-based binomial logit (SBL) model has been proposed to reveal the significance of these influencing factors. The results indicate that the road segments with different features have different incomes over different time periods. The main factors in income analysis are the factors used to represent taxi operation strategies. Highly rewarding pick-up road segments can be identified, which could contribute to drivers’ income improvements, and can further contribute to the development of the taxi market.

Mothers on the move: manyanos and the social history of transportation in a South African homeland township, 1963–1990

ABSTRACT Histories of bus boycotts and of the taxi business in apartheid South Africa have been told with male activists and taxi entrepreneurs as the protagonists. Women’s oral histories reframe transportation history to include the experiences of commuters. This article is a history of travel by African Christian women’s organizations (manyanos) in the township of Mdantsane. Township infrastructure presented barriers to these social organizations, but in the 1960s and 1970s manyanos adapted their mobility practices to attract members. The bus boycotts of the 1980s and the growth of the taxi industry were connected to protest against the apartheid order. However, this revolution in transportation had ambiguous consequences for commuters. As dissatisfied commuters in the late-apartheid urban landscape, manyano women continued to innovate travelling strategies to maintain local and long-distance connections. Their experiences show that commuters, as well as governments and transport-owners, shape the possibilities of urban travel in twentieth-century Africa.

Modern Indentured Servitude in the Gig Economy: A Case Study on the Deregulation of the Taxi Industry in the United States

In March 2018, the death of Elaine Herzberg, Tempe, AZ, USA, caused by an autonomous Uber vehicle (with a training driver behind the wheel) made headlines <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref1" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">[1]</xref> . Uber responded by suspending its self-driving program in Phoenix, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Toronto. The complexity around determining liability for that fatal accident demonstrates that self-driving cars have had an enormous impact in terms of completely changing the rules of engagement. For the most part, new rules are being established on the fly, without scenario planning or adequate anticipatory governance.

Driver perceptions on taxi-sharing and dynamic pricing in taxi services: Evidence from Athens, Greece

The taxi industry has changed dramatically during the last decade, as ride-sourcing applications, ride-sharing and alternative pricing schemes have emerged, either as complementing or competitive services and strategies. After some years of familiarity with such trends, it is interesting to explore where the taxi industry stands with respect to possible service innovations. This paper explores behavioral patterns of drivers, focusing on issues such as their preferred way of conducting business, and their views on introducing taxi-sharing and dynamic pricing. Data collected from a face-to-face questionnaire survey in Athens, Greece are exploited, and appropriate econometric models are developed for the purposes of the study. The analysis shows that young and/or educated drivers, as well as those who are familiar with new technologies are more willing to accept innovations in taxi services. Results from a stated choice experiment show that on average 3.5 euros is the extra charge that the taxi market would accept to offer a taxi-sharing service. However, results reveal that the value of taxi-sharing varies across different groups of drivers. Overall, findings indicate that in the years to come, competition by other services, (e.g. ridesharing) will force the taxi industry to adopt new models of operation and pricing.

A Clustering Approach to Identify High-Risk Taxi Drivers Based on Self-Reported Driving Behavior

This study aimed to evaluate the driving behavior of taxi drivers in Isfahan, Iran, and assess the probability of a driver being among the high-risk taxi drivers. To identify risky driving behaviors among taxi drivers, the Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) was used. By collecting data from 548 taxi drivers, exploratory factor analysis identified the significant components of DBQ including “Inattention errors,” “Inexperience errors,” “Lapses,” “Ordinary violations,” and “Aggressive violations.” K-means clustering was conducted to cluster taxi drivers into three risk groups of low-risk, medium-risk, and high-risk taxi drivers based on their self-reported annual traffic crashes and fines. In addition, logistic regressions identified the extent to which drivers’ crashes and traffic fines are related to their driving behavior, and therefore, what aberrant driving behaviors are more important in explaining the presence of taxi drivers in the high-risk cluster. The results revealed that the majority of participants (66.78%) were low-risk taxi drivers. Aggressive violations and ordinary violations were significant predictors of taxi drivers being in the high-risk group, while inattention errors and aggressive violations were significant predictors of being in the medium/high-risk cluster. The findings from this study are valuable resources for developing safety measures and training for new drivers in the taxi industry.

BP Neural Network-Based Big Data Intelligent Travel Algorithm and Its Application

With the increase of urbanization rate, a large number of people flood into cities, increasing pressure of urban traffic, and problems accumulated in the taxi industry are gradually prominent. The phenomenon of crowded queue for taxi is frequent in peak hours, and vehicles patrol and sweep streets during peak hours. The key to solve these problems lies in mastering the rules and patterns of taxi travel and finding the factors affecting the relationship between taxi supply and demand. It is difficult to effectively understand taxi travel as a whole due to the large number of taxis and their large scale and strong mobility. Comprehensive application of trajectory data mining method can extract the spatiotemporal characteristics of massive taxi trajectory data and reveal the nature of its occurrence. This paper mainly focuses on the problems faced by urban traffic governance, such as the mismatch between data sources and demand systems, the uncoordinated operation of comprehensive transportation system, and the difficulty in sharing big data resources between government and enterprises. With massive data resources across departments, this paper designed a networked intelligent computing platform for big data of urban transportation integrated with various modes of transportation to sense the operation situation of urban comprehensive transportation system in real time, accurately grasp the space-time distribution of urban transportation supply and demand, and significantly improve the ability of coordinated operation, organization, and management of transportation in large cities. It also effectively enhances the quality of transportation information sharing and integration services and comprehensively improves the efficiency and overall carrying capacity of the urban comprehensive transportation system.

Feuding Families in the South African Mini-bus Taxi Industry

Feuding Families in the South African Mini-bus Taxi Industry