Assessing the Impact of Real-time Ridesharing on Urban Traffic using Mobile Phone Data

Recently, smart-phone based technology has enabled ridesharing services to match customers making similar trips in realtime for a reduced rate and minimal inconvenience. But what are the impacts of such services on city-wide congestion? The answer lies in whether or not ridesharing adds to vehicle traffic by diverting non-driving trips like walking, transit, or cycling, or reduces vehicle traffic by diverting trips otherwise made in private, single occupancy cars or taxis. This research explores the impact of rideshare adoption on congestion using mobile phone data. We extract average daily origin-destination (OD) trips from mobile phone records and estimate the proportions of these trips made by auto and other non-auto travelers. Next, we match spatially and temporally similar trips, and assume a range of adoption rates for auto and non-auto users, in order to distill rideshare vehicle trips. Finally, for several adoption scenarios, we evaluate the impacts of congestion network-wide.

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