Revisiting Urban Taxis: Optimal Real Time Management and Performance Appraisal by a Discrete Event Simulation Model

Cities are complex spatial structures presenting dense economical and cultural activities where an efficient transportation system is essential to meet all the challenges encountered when considering a competent industrialization, massive production, other activities and an improved quality of life. Based upon the fact that car travel is still the consumer's first choice, we are interested in the challenging idea of creating an intelligently administered new system called "Collective Taxis". The service quality provided will be comparable with that of conventional taxis (system operating with or without reservations, door-to-door services, well adapted itineraries following the current demand, controlling detours and waits, etc.), with fares set at rates affordable by almost everyone, simply by utilizing previously wasted vehicle capacity. With the aim of achieving optimal functioning of such an elegant but also complex structure, a made to measure discrete event computer simulator has been developed as a tool to evaluate and fine tune real time decision algorithms, optimize resources, study the influence of various factors pertaining to demand (level, geometry) upon performances and the threshold of profitability. The aim of this paper is to present such a methodology and illustrate it with results corresponding to fictitious but realistic data for a city like Paris.