Analyzing Urban Residents’ Appraisal of Ridepooling Service Attributes with Conjoint Analysis

Abstract

Public ridepooling systems could contribute to the reduction of traffic volume and emissions in cities by decreasing the number of rides by private car while increasing the average number of passengers per vehicle. Yet, it is unknown how urban travelers value different attributes of the ridepooling’s operational concept. Which characteristics of ridepooling concepts are most important to the users? In order to obtain a deeper understanding of travelers’ preferences concerning a ridepooling system, choice-based Conjoint Analysis was performed. Based on a literature review and a focus group, six relevant attributes of the operational concept of ridepooling systems were determined: fare, walking distance, time of booking, shift of departure time, travel time, and information provision. Data from 237 German city dwellers were analyzed with the help of Cox regression. Except for time of booking, all service attributes significantly affected the respondents’ choice. Besides the high relevance of fare, the results underline the particular importance of the attribute walking distance to the pick-up point for elderly. The results give guidance for the creation of user-centered public transport systems that meet the requirements of the prospective passengers and thus might contribute to the development of shared passenger transport systems for sustainable urban mobility.

Modelling travelers’ appraisal of ridepooling service characteristics with a discrete choice experiment

“…Apparently, travelers attach high importance to low fares, thus confirming findings in the field of ridesharing that show cost savings to be one of the most influential attributes for using ridesharing [45]. The results are further in line with the findings of König et al [13] that proved the high importance of price for urban residents' appraisal of ridepooling systems. The trip purpose had no significant effect on the respondents' appraisal of the attribute fare.…”

“…This research was conducted in order to fill the research gap with regard to the limited empirical findings concerning travelers' preferences and needs related to ridepooling service concepts. The study builds upon and extents the recent study of König et al [13] by broadening the focus and applying a regression modelling approach. Furthermore, the study adds onto the prior study by calculating willingness to pay values.…”

“…The study that focused on city dwellers only, assessed the relative importance of the service characteristics for the participants' appraisal of the ridepooling service by addressing the research question: "door-to-door-service or fare?" The study found that the answer to the question depends on the sociodemographic factors of the person consideredwhile fare was the most important service characteristic for younger individuals, elderly paid more attention to short walking distances to the pick-up point [13]. Yet, the study leaves the question open whether the findings can be transferred to a broader population.…”

“…There is little information about how these new digitalized and flexible mobility services are used and how they may affect travel behavior, which is posing challenges for transport planners and researchers [11]. The article builds up on a related work by the authors concerning urban residents' appraisal of ridepooling systems and the associated service attributes [13]. The study that focused on city dwellers only, assessed the relative importance of the service characteristics for the participants' appraisal of the ridepooling service by addressing the research question: "door-to-door-service or fare?"…”

Investigating the preferences of individuals on public transport innovations using the Maximum Difference Scaling method

“…In 2015, Wojtowicz, Wolański, and Widła--Domaradzki used CA to carry out the ex-ante evaluation of railway infrastructure investments [21]. In 2018, König, Bonus, and Grippenkoven used CA to obtain a deeper understanding of travelers' preferences concerning a ride-pooling system in Germany [22].…”