An investigation of the factors that affect the use of pooled ridehailing services in California

Abstract

Pooled ridehailing services, like UberPOOL (now UberX Share) and Lyft Line (later rebranded as Lyft Shared before its discontinuation in May 2023), allow passengers to share part or the entirety of their trip with other paying passengers they typically do not know, resulting in lower fares. In this paper, we estimate a mixed logit model to examine the factors influencing the choice between pooled and solo ridehailing (e.g., UberX), using a dataset collected through rMove, an in-app survey and GPS data collection tool, which captures residents’ travel behaviors across three metropolitan regions in California. Our findings indicate that lower-income individuals, non-whites, women, and younger adults are more likely to choose pooled ridehailing. Conversely, individuals with higher vehicle ownership are less likely to pool. Frequent ridehailing users are more inclined to share rides, whereas employer-paid work trips are less likely to be pooled. Trips originating in high-density areas are also more likely to be pooled. Furthermore, we find a positive relationship between the use of public/active modes and the likelihood of pooling, highlighting both the risk of competition (and substitution) among these modes and an openness to multimodal travel among certain groups. Our analysis offers valuable insights for policymakers who seek to expand the share of pooled ridehailing trips while minimizing deadheading to reduce the emissions and congestion associated with the ridehailing industry.