Understanding Ride-Hailing Sharing and Matching in Chicago Using Travel Time, Cost, and Choice Models

Ride-hailing data is sparingly available throughout the U.S., which limits researchers’ understanding of the mode. Chicago is one of a few cities that have mandated ride-hailing companies to submit detailed trip data to their local transportation agency. The dataset is one of the few to contain trip-level attributes such as fare, travel time, and trip length. Most research using the Chicago dataset has focused on understanding why people use ride-hailing. This study focuses on why ride-hailing passengers choose shared over private trips and what influences the shared trips to be matched. Trips to/from airports are less likely to be shared. Trips to/from low-income areas are more likely to be shared. Longer shared trips are more likely to be matched, shared trips to/from dense areas are more likely to be matched, and shared trips between areas with a high number of shared trips are more likely to be matched. Matching an additional shared trip with another adds approximately 4 min to a trip. Ride-hailing users’ value of time is found to be $48.23 per hour. Understanding travel behavior is important for all modes of transportation including ride-hailing. The results of this paper can be applied to guide polices aiming to promote more sustainable transportation modes.