Modeling and comparison of taxi operational modes: case study

This paper presents an aggregated mathematical model for the estimation of key performance indicators of the taxi market based on the system’s generalized cost function, which is calculated using the expected statistical values of customers’ trip distance, waiting/access time and the cost of the involved actors, including externalities, who are the taxi drivers, the taxi customers and the city represented by the rest of the drivers and the citizens. Optimum values for the taxi supply are obtained from mathematical formulations depending on the demand level and the size of the city. For these optimum values, the customers waiting and access time as well as the unitary system costs related to the optimum fleet size are obtained analytically. The model is developed for stand, hailing and dispatching taxi markets and the results are compared, presenting conclusions for the best type of market for each demand level and city size. The mathematical model can account for externalities, such as pollution and congestion, affecting citizens and other drivers respectively. The model is applied in the city of Barcelona, presenting useful conclusions on the performance indicators of the taxi services and the impact of the applied policies as well as the optimum number of taxis for each operational mode, ranging between 30 and 40 vehicles per hour and km2