Uncovering the Relationship between Urban Road Network Topology and Taxi Drivers’ Income: A Perspective from Spatial Design Network Analysis

Abstract

Over the past few decades, taxi drivers’ income has received extensive attention from scholars. Previous studies have investigated the factors affecting taxi drivers’ income from multiple perspectives. However, less attention has been paid to road network topology, which has a direct impact on taxis’ operation efficiency and drivers’ income. To fill this gap, this paper examines the relationship between taxi drivers’ income and urban road network topology; we employed various methods, namely, spatial design network analysis (sDNA), bivariate Moran’s I, and geographically weighted regression (GWR). The results show the following. (1) The total order income (TOI) of taxi drivers has a certain degree of positive spatial correlation with closeness and betweenness. (2) The impact of urban road network topology on the average order income (AOI) of taxi drivers is stable. Specifically, closeness and betweenness have significant impacts on the AOI of taxi drivers at the medium and larger scales. (3) Closeness has a negative impact on the AOI of taxi drivers, and betweenness has a positive impact on the AOI of taxi drivers. (4) Compared with betweenness, the impact of closeness on the AOI of taxi drivers is greater and more stable. These findings can provide useful reference values for the development of policies aimed at improving both taxi drivers’ income and urban road network efficiency.