Ride-hailing in Santiago de Chile: Users’ characterisation and effects on travel behaviour: Fid-Bau Portal

Ride-hailing in Santiago de Chile: Users’ characterisation and effects on travel behaviour

Tirachini, Alejandro / del Río, Mariana

Abstract In this paper, an in-depth examination of the use of ride-hailing (ridesourcing) in Santiago de Chile is presented based on data from an intercept survey implemented across the city in 2017. First, a sociodemographic analysis of ride-hailing users, usage habits, and trip characteristics is introduced, including a discussion of the substitution and complementarity of ride-hailing with existing public transport. It is found that (i) ride-hailing is mostly used for occasional trips, (ii) the modes most substituted by ride-hailing are public transport and traditional taxis, and (iii) for every ride-hailing rider that combines with public transport, there are 11 riders that substitute public transport. Generalised ordinal logit models are estimated; these show that (iv) the probability of sharing a (non-pooled) ride-hailing trip decreases with the household income of riders and increases for leisure trips, and that (v) the monthly frequency of ride-hailing use is larger among more affluent and younger travellers. Car availability is not statistically significant to explain the frequency of ride-hailing use when age and income are controlled; this result differs from previous ride-hailing studies. We position our findings in this extant literature and discuss the policy implications of our results to the regulation of ride-hailing services in Chile.

Highlights • The most substituted modes by ride-hailing (RH) are public transport and taxis. • For every RH rider that combines with public transport, 11 riders substitute it. • Probability of sharing a RH trip decreases with income and increases for leisure. • Car availability is not significant to explain frequency of RH use. • Policy implications for the regulation of RH services in Chile are discussed.