GPS data in urban online ride-hailing: A comparative analysis on fuel consumption and emissions

The transportation sector has become the leading and most-rapidly growing contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Promoting low-carbon travel mode is critical to alleviate this issue. As a new travel mode, online ride-hailing (such as Didi Chuxing and Uber), is becoming increasingly popular in cities around the world. However, there is still no comparative analysis on fuel consumption and emissions: does online ride-hailing have a distinct fuel consumption and emissions pattern with traditional taxis? In this study, we use one month global positioning system dataset and orders dataset, averagely covering around 7 thousand taxis with 0.3 million trips and 23 thousand Didi Chuxing Express vehicles with 0.1 million trips per day in Chengdu, China to answer this question. Empirical results show that taxi trips associate with longer idle distance and shorter delivery distance than Didi trips. Didi trips’ average idle velocity is apparently smaller than their delivery velocity. Online ride-hailing mode is concluded to contribute to these difference: after dropping off previous passengers, Didi drivers usually park their cars until being dispatched new orders and then drive directly to pick up passengers rather than search circuitously. Fuel consumption and carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbon emissions per passenger-on kilometer of taxi trips are found to be about 1.36, 1.45, 1.36 and 1.44 times that of Didi trips, respectively. Additionally, only taxi drivers with good performance have the ability to reduce fuel consumption and emissions; while most Didi drivers can perform well on fuel consumption saving and emissions reduction. Finally, several feasible policies are suggested for improving and upgrading the traditional taxi business. Our study provides convincing evidence for understanding the advantage of online ride-hailing mode in reduction fuel consumption and emissions sourced from empty cruising, so as to support better traffic policy making and the promotion on low-carbon travel mode.