Urban Mobility in the Era of Sharing Economy: An Empirical Study of Smartphone App Based Ridesourcing Services

Abstract

The advent of sharing economy has led to the immense popularity of urban mobility services among riders across the world. Digital mapping of demand and supply of ride sourcing services has resulted in a win-win situation for the ride sourcing service supply chain that has fewer tiers compared to other service supply chains. Driver-partners are assured of regularity in income and a higher capacity utilization of their capital asset (the vehicle). Riders benefit from cheaper prices and the convenience of organizing a ride right from their doorstep. The transportation network companies like Ola and Uber earn a commission on every ride that provides a steady stream of revenues. Sustaining in the long run will need these companies to understand the satisfaction of riders and also the problems that they face so that service deficiencies can be improved upon. Understanding customer feedback will also enable state governments to relate to the challenges in urban mobility services. A survey was carried among the users of Ola cab services to understand their preferences and opinions about the cab services. The results of the study demonstrate that while gender-based differences do exist in matters of customer perceptions about the cab services, there is tremendous scope for improving cab services in the future.