Author(s)

MIREIA GILIBERT, IMMA RIBAS, SILVIA RODRIGUEZ-DONAIRE

Abstract

Shared ride-hailing services are discreetly emerging in cities all over the world, with the purpose of providing a transport service more flexible than the public bus and cheaper than the regular taxi. Hence, it is important to identify and include the relevant and key factors of such a service to ensure its success. The aim of this study was to investigate the utility of an on-demand shared ride-hailing commuting service and determine the design factors for an appropriate service from the users’ perspective. For one week, a pilot of a shared ride-hailing services to commute from the city centre of Barcelona to the most western district of the city was conducted. Although the sample used in this study was modest in scale, it enabled to draw preliminary conclusions. Users valued very positively the comfort provided but they would not pay more than the double of the price of the public transport. This indicates that despite having a high number of users, such a low price could complicate the profitability of the service unless it was partially subsidized.

Keywords

Mobility as a Service (MaaS), ride-hailing, ridesharing, ride-sourcing, urban mobility, on-demand transport, Business Model Canvas