Possible Emission Reductions From Ride-Sourcing Travel in a Global Megacity: The Case of Beijing

Abstract

Urban transportation in China is undergoing a revolution due to ride-sourcing. The strong growth in ride-sourcing travel requires the government and the industry to adopt strategies for reducing environmental impact. Here, we address a key gap in knowledge on the emerging ride-sourcing travel model by designing a roadmap for realizing low-emission ride-sourcing drawing from an analysis of raw big trip data for Beijing. We found that adopting the most effective low-emission strategies requires joint efforts involving governance and management, enterprise operations, and consumer behavior change. With respect to issues of feasibility and effectiveness, the enterprise operation strategy, involving polices that shorten the pick-up time and increase the vehicle occupancy, is the best option, offering approximately 44% CO2 and NOx emission reductions compared with the current situation. Promoting ride-sourcing usage among car users or potential car users could help reduce emissions attributing to less cars being manufactured (26% CO2 and 24% NOx) but with uncertainty. To achieve low-emission ride-sourcing travel, governments, enterprises, and consumers must collaborate closely and define clear roles, responsibilities, and relationships.

K-Prototypes Segmentation Analysis on Large-Scale Ridesourcing Trip Data

“…Another major area of the literature focuses on the potential for TNCs to be more efficient people movers than privately driven vehicles. The dynamic ridesharing literature examines the efficiency gains of ridesplitting over private modes ( 38 , 39 ). Despite theoretical findings on the advantages of ridesplitting, there has been limited exploration of how this functions in real systems.…”

The Social, Economic, and Environmental Impacts of Ridesourcing Services: A Literature Review

“…In some cases, what prompts an individual to drive under the influence of alcohol is the insufficient number of taxis, especially at night, and their relatively high price [53]. Therefore, the convenience and flexibility of ridesourcing services may encourage many people to avoid drunk driving [20]. Several studies support this argument.…”

“…When ridesourcing serves the routes and operates at the times that public transport does not serve well, it complements public transit. Ridesourcing can extend public transit by solving the first and last mile problem created by the fixed route and fixed schedule of public transit [1,20,98]. The results of the study of Zgheib et al [98] show that the integration of ridesourcing and public transport can increase the overall market share of the Beirut BRT by 2%.…”

“…Many studies have focused on some environmental implications such as vehicle miles traveled (VMT) [18,19], congestion and traffic [14,18,20], carbon emissions [21,22], energy consumption [23], and parking demand [24,25]. In addition to the aforementioned dimensions, some studies have focused on issues related to regulations [26][27][28].…”

Transportation Network Companies: Drivers’ Perceptions of Ride-Sharing Regarding Climate Change and Extreme Weather

“…Among many other factors, transportation of people and goods is a major source for emissions to the atmosphere [1][2][3]-accounting for about 20% of global CO2 emissions in recent years [4]. Thus, the transportation sector is increasingly under pressure to reduce emissions [5], and Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) may become part of the solutions [6].…”