Open access
Date
2021Type
- Journal Article
Abstract
On-demand mobility has existed for more than 100 years in the form of taxi systems. Comparatively recently, ride-hailing schemes have also grown to a significant mode share. Most types of such one-way mobility-on-demand systems allow drivers taking independent decisions. These systems are not or only partially coordinated. In a different operating mode, all decisions are coordinated by the operator, allowing for the optimization of certain metrics. Such a coordinated operation is also implied if human-driven vehicles are replaced by self-driving cars. This work quantifies the service quality and efficiency improvements resulting from the coordination of taxi fleets. Results based on high-fidelity transportation simulations and data sets of existing taxi systems are presented for the cities of San Francisco, Chicago, and Zurich. They show that fleet coordination can strongly improve the efficiency and service level of existing systems. Depending on the operator and the city's preferences, empty vehicle distance driven and fleet sizes could be substantially reduced, or the wait times could be reduced while maintaining the current fleet sizes. The study provides clear evidence that full fleet coordination should be implemented in existing mobility-on-demand systems, even before the availability of self-driving cars. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000549483Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Journal of Advanced TransportationVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
HindawiMore
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