Integrated operation of ride-hailing and shared micromobility services in multimodal transportation networks with public transit: The unintended consequences of regulations

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2025

Subject Area

policy - congestion, policy - equity, ridership - demand, organisation - regulation, operations - coordination, planning - integration, planning - methods

Keywords

Ride-hailing, Shared micromobility, Public transit, Multimodal transportation network, Spatial equity, Regulatory policies

Abstract

This paper investigates the integrated operation of ride-hailing and shared micromobility services provided by transportation network companies (TNCs) such as Uber, Lyft, and Didi, and examines the policy implications of prevalent TNC regulations under complex multimodal interactions. We consider a TNC platform that simultaneously coordinates a fleet of for-hire vehicles and deploys micromobility infrastructures to offer both ride-hailing and shared micromobility services, in conjunction with a public transit agency operating in the same transportation network. To capture the key elements of such a multimodal system, we develop a market equilibrium model that incorporates ride-hailing waiting times, micromobility access and egress times, the spatial distribution of micromobility infrastructure, passenger demand, platform pricing and fleet sizing, vehicle repositioning, and traffic congestion. The platform’s decision-making problem is formulated as a non-convex program, and a tailored solution method is proposed to efficiently compute the solution through problem reformulation and dimensionality reduction. Using the developed model, we analyze the implications of two prevalent TNC regulations: (a) a congestion charge on ride-hailing services aimed at mitigating traffic congestion; and (b) a vehicle density floor for shared micromobility services to promote spatial equity. Our results reveal several unintended consequences of these regulations due to the interplay between ride-hailing, shared micromobility, and public transit in a multimodal transportation network. Interestingly, we find that how the congestion charge on ride-hailing trips influences public transit ridership crucially depends on micromobility’s role as a feeder mode: when micromobility serves as a significant transit feeder, the congestion charge increases transit ridership; otherwise, the congestion charge on ride-hailing services could inadvertently reduce transit ridership. Furthermore, we find that imposing a vehicle density floor for micromobility services, while improving the spatial equity of micromobility, may inadvertently reduce the equity of ride-hailing services, ultimately widening the overall equity gap across the multimodal transportation network. These unintended consequences are observed only when all three modes-ride-hailing, shared micromobility, and public transit-are jointly modeled, underscoring the critical importance of accounting for multimodal interactions in the design and evaluation of TNC regulations.

Rights

Permission to publish the abstract has been given by Elsevier, copyright remains with them.

Comments

Transportation Research Part C Home Page:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0968090X

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