On Rider Strategic Behavior in Ride-Sharing Platforms

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Mulay, Jay, Sen, Diptangshu, Ziani, Juba
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Mulay, Jay
Sen, Diptangshu
Ziani, Juba
author_facet Mulay, Jay
Sen, Diptangshu
Ziani, Juba
contents Over the past decade, ride-sharing services have become increasingly important, with U.S. market leaders such as Uber and Lyft expanding to over 900 cities worldwide and facilitating billions of rides annually. This rise reflects their ability to meet users' convenience, efficiency, and affordability needs. However, in busy areas and surge zones, the benefits of these platforms can diminish, prompting riders to relocate to cheaper, more convenient locations or seek alternative transportation. While much research has focused on the strategic behavior of drivers, the strategic actions of riders, especially when it comes to riders walking outside of surge zones, remain under-explored. This paper examines the impact of rider-side strategic behavior on surge dynamics. We investigate how riders' actions influence market dynamics, including supply, demand, and pricing. We show significant impacts, such as spillover effects where demand increases in areas adjacent to surge zones and prices surge in nearby areas. Our theoretical insights and experimental results highlight that rider strategic behavior helps redistribute demand, reduce surge prices, and clear demand in a more balanced way across zones.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_04272
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle On Rider Strategic Behavior in Ride-Sharing Platforms
Mulay, Jay
Sen, Diptangshu
Ziani, Juba
Computer Science and Game Theory
Over the past decade, ride-sharing services have become increasingly important, with U.S. market leaders such as Uber and Lyft expanding to over 900 cities worldwide and facilitating billions of rides annually. This rise reflects their ability to meet users' convenience, efficiency, and affordability needs. However, in busy areas and surge zones, the benefits of these platforms can diminish, prompting riders to relocate to cheaper, more convenient locations or seek alternative transportation. While much research has focused on the strategic behavior of drivers, the strategic actions of riders, especially when it comes to riders walking outside of surge zones, remain under-explored. This paper examines the impact of rider-side strategic behavior on surge dynamics. We investigate how riders' actions influence market dynamics, including supply, demand, and pricing. We show significant impacts, such as spillover effects where demand increases in areas adjacent to surge zones and prices surge in nearby areas. Our theoretical insights and experimental results highlight that rider strategic behavior helps redistribute demand, reduce surge prices, and clear demand in a more balanced way across zones.
title On Rider Strategic Behavior in Ride-Sharing Platforms
topic Computer Science and Game Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.04272