Investigation of Taxi Travel Time Characteristics

In this article, the authors use data from an extensive revealed preference (RP) travel survey in the Athens, Greece, metropolitan area to explore taxi travel times and the factors that influence it. The authors contend that there is a lack of research on taxi travel time, despite its importance in pricing, traffic, and transport mode choice. In this study, they develop hazard-based duration models to explore travel time by taxi, along with the influence of various covariates on travel time duration. These covariates include user attributes (e.g. age), trip-specific characteristics (e.g. trip purpose), and area characteristics (e.g. population density). They found that high population density in a user’s residence area is related to longer taxi journey durations while off-peak and nighttime journeys last longer than others. Further, elderly taxi users, men, and non-regular users experience increased travel times. As expected, travelers with low income appear to use taxis for shorter trips.