Comparison of travel mode choice between taxi and subway regarding traveling convenience

Abstract

In this study, we investigate travel mode choice behavior between taxi and subway with an emphasis on the influence of traveling convenience. In the first stage, we examine the Origin-Destination (OD) points of Beijing taxi trips and compare these locations with the respective nearest subway station. Statistics reveal several interesting conclusions. First, for approximately 24.89% of all trips, no convenient subway connections exist between the OD pairs. As such, a taxi becomes the only viable choice. Second, for 80.23% of the remaining 75.11% of trips (equivalent to 60.26% of all trips), access distance from either the origin or the destination to the nearest subway station is greater than 500 meters. This phenomenon indicates that walking distance plays an important role in travel mode choice. In the second stage, we examine groups of taxi trips with similar travel distances and travel times to reveal common features. We establish a preference rule in terms of travel distance and travel time. This determines whether an individual driver will take a taxi or the subway, using a pairwise comparison-based preference regression model. Tests indicate that more than 95% of taxi trips can be correctly predicted by this preference rule. This conclusion reveals that traveling convenience dominates the travel model choice between taxi and subway. All these findings shed light on the factors that influence travel mode choice behavior.