Usage Characteristics And Alternative Mode Choices Of Ride-Sourcing Users

The rapid development of ride-sourcing services has made a tremendous impact on alternative mode choices of ride-sourcing users in urban transportation systems in the last few years.The advent of ride-sourcing services also changes the habitual travel behaviors of travelers.However,ride-sourcing services were heavily restricted or banned by some countries and regions due to the issues of public safety and social equality.Therefore,this paper investigated usage characteristics and alternative mode choices of ride-sourcing users in Chengdu,China,via a stated preference approach and Baidu Map API services.In the final,this paper will present the potential behavioral reaction to the heavy restriction or ban on ride-sourcing services and also illustrate behavior choice changes of ride-sourcing users considering alternative mode choices before the advent of ride-sourcing services and sustainability of different alternative mode choicesThere were 340 questionnaires reliable in this study,including 340 ride-sourcing respondents and 435 ride-sourcing trips.The author required demographics and trip characteristics of ride-sourcing users,alternative mode choices before the advent of ride-sourcing services,and after the heavy restriction or ban on ride-sourcing services.Besides,this paper utilized the Baidu Map API to capture trip information of alternative mode choices and building environment information about transportation-related infrastructures within buffersBased on analyses of usage characteristics of ride-sourcing users,this study found that most of respondents were pretty young and unmarried.Many respondents were well educated.Besides,most of the respondents took ride-sourcing trips with the main trip purpose of taking social/leisure activities or going back home.It was noted that many respondents would also like to work or transfer to public transit.Most ride-sourcing trips did not mean a long-distance and have a small waiting time.There was no significant difference between transportation-related infrastructures within trip origin buffers and those within trip destination buffers.Main reasons why people chose ride-sourcing services were as follows:easy to call ride-sourcing services,easy to pay,short waiting time,and fast speed.87.94%of ride-sourcing users only used ride-sourcing services less than four times a week.Besides,77.94%of respondents did not change their vehicle purchase plan while 17.65%of respondents reduced their willingness to purchase a vehicle of all alternative mode choices before the advent of ride-sourcing services,public transit options accounted for 54.94%,the taxi option accounted for 25.75%,active mode options accounted for 11.49%,and private vehicle options accounted for 7.82%.Similarly to all alternative mode choices when ride-sourcing services were heavily restricted or banned,53.71%would switch from ride-sourcing service options to public transit options,27.36%would shift into the taxi option,10.80%would shift into active mode options,7.13%would shift into private vehicle options.Besides,although 79.08%of trips remained their previous(before the advent of ride-sourcing services)alternative mode choices,alternative mode transitions happened among 20.92%of all tripsTo better understand how ride-sourcing users would adjust their behavior when ride-sourcing services were heavily restricted or banned,the mixed-logit model was utilized to profile alternative mode choices of ride-sourcing users after the "withdrawal" of ride-sourcing services.The result indicated that travel time,travel fares,and their respective random parameters were highly related to the alternative mode choices Besides,other factors were influencing the alternative mode choices of ride-sourcing users,such as trip purpose,age,gender,household working people,driver license condition,and annual household income Besides,metro stations within the trip origin buffer had a potential effect on alternative mode choices of ride-sourcing users when ride-sourcing services were heavily restricted or banned.Therefore,the result could help policymakers understand how ride-sourcing users would adjust their choice behavior when ride-sourcing services were heavily restricted or bannedBesides,the author categorized alternative mode choices into three levels based on the sustainability of different transportation modes:active mode choices>public transit>car-based modes(private vehicles and taxi).This paper established an ordered logit model to understand the potential effects of demographics of ride-sourcing users,use frequency of ride-sourcing services,and "previous" alternative mode choices on"future"alternative mode choice behaviors from sustainable perspectives.The results indicated that age,annual household income,the use frequency of ride-sourcing services,and "previous" alternative mode choices were all significant at 0.05 level.Finally,this paper found that ride-sourcing services did change users’ behavioral choices.Ride-sourcing users with middle and high use frequency of ride-sourcing services would like to choose a less sustainable mode,...