Spatial and Temporal Differences in Weekday Travel Durations Between Private-For-Hire Transportation Services and Transit in the City Center

Published In

Transportation Research Record

Document Type

Citation

Publication Date

7-12-2021

Abstract

There is increasing evidence that ridehailing and other private-for-hire (PfH) services such as taxis and limousines are diverting trips from transit services. One question that arises is where and when PfH services are filling gaps in transit services and where they are competing with transit services that are publicly subsidized. Using weekday trip-level information for trips originating in or destined for the city center of Portland, OR from PfH transportation services (taxis, transportation network companies, limousines) and transit trip data collected from OpenTripPlanner, this study investigated the temporal and spatial differences in travel durations between actual PfH trips and comparable transit trips (the same origin–destination and time of day). This paper contributes to this question and to a growing body of research about the use of ridehailing and other on-demand services. Specifically, it provides a spatial and temporal analysis of the demand for PfH transportation using an actual census of trips for a given 2 week period. The comparison of trip durations of actual PfH trips to hypothetical transit trips for the same origin–destination pairs into or out of the central city gives insights for policy making around pricing and other regulatory frameworks that could be implemented in time and space. Increasingly, U.S. cities have been taking measures to reduce automobile dependence and combat the environmental impacts of the transportation sector. Strategies such as congestion pricing schemes, investment in bicycle infrastructure and bikeshare systems, cooperation with purveyors of micro-mobility (e-scooters), increased residential density, and efforts to make transit more time-competitive with low-occupancy automobiles have simultaneously increased cities’ ability to serve greater numbers of people by transit (1–6). Transportation officials in Portland, OR, the region in which this analysis was conducted, have recently crafted a plan to expand the city’s transit-only lanes to keep buses moving through increasingly congested streets, and have established an “equitable mobility task force” to make recommendations on potential road user fees (7, 8). City centers benefit the most from service increases, as most cities have transit systems oriented toward the center, such as a hub-and-spoke design (9). Thus, trips taken by transit are often easiest and fastest when traveling to and from the city center. Of the 62 transit routes (bus, light rail, and streetcar) that serve Portland, 74% intersect with the city center (Figure 1). However, there is increasing evidence that ridehailing and other private-for-hire (PfH) services such as taxis and limousines are capturing some of the transit market share (10). A study conducted in Boston indicates that ridehailing passengers are increasingly using these PfH options as a substitute for other modes of transportation, such as public transit (11). This is antithetical to the goals of transportation planners because decreased ridership worsens the efficiency and financial health of transit systems, and an increase in low-occupancy PfH vehicle trips contributes to congestion that delays buses—a vicious cycle to be sure (12–15). Figure 1. City of Portland boundary, central city delineation, and transit network. To inform policy makers in crafting sustainable policies, analysis of the demand for PfH services is needed; however, the proprietary nature of these data inhibits access. One question that arises is where and when PfH services are filling gaps in transit services and where they are competing with transit services that are publicly subsidized. Using trip-level data from PfH transportation (taxis, transportation network companies, limousines) and transit trip data collected from OpenTripPlanner (OTP), this study investigated the temporal and spatial differences in travel durations between actual PfH trips and comparable transit trips (the same origin–destination and time of day). PfH trips that originated in or were destined for the central city, including trips within this area, were compared with the equivalent transit travel durations for the same journey.

Rights

Copyright © 2021 by National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

DOI

10.1177/03611981211019741

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/36327

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