Transportation-Enabled Services: Concept, Framework, and Research Opportunities

As a result of rapid advancements in urban infrastructure and technology, transportation is transforming a variety of innovative and emerging services. This paper introduces the concept of transportation-enabled services (TRENS), which is a service model that uses transportation systems to enable and enhance the delivery, accessibility, and effectiveness of nontransportation services. We establish a general framework in which the transportation-enabled services involve four key stakeholders: customers, suppliers, TRENS providers, and transportation carriers. Within this general framework, we present five specific service models: a one-sided market, three variants of two-sided markets, and a three-sided market, each characterized by the interactions among suppliers, TRENS providers, and transportation carriers. Taking different models of transportation-enabled services into consideration, we highlight crucial research opportunities to enhance understanding of the planning, operations, evaluation, and regulation of transportation-enabled services. These research opportunities include demand and supply management, transportation system management and operations, coordination among stakeholders, and the evaluation and regulation of transportation-enabled services. We believe that the emergence, widespread adoption, and popularity of transportation-enabled services will significantly enhance and reshape many services and thus contribute to the overall improvement of future mobility in the broader context of smart cities. History: This paper has been accepted for the Service Science Special Issue on Innovation in Transportation-Enabled Urban Services. Funding: The work of Hai Wang was supported by the Lee Kong Chian Fellowship awarded by Singapore Management University. The work of Hao Sun was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grants 72301179].