App-Based Ride-Hailing versus Public Transit: An Analysis of Modern Transportation Decisions in New York City

Abstract

This thesis addresses the rapid growth of app-based ride-hailing services in New York City and the efficacy of public transit in meeting this demand.

An archive of over 300 million taxi and for-hire-vehicle trips in 2018 is used in tandem with a public transit travel time generation model to individually evaluate each ride-hailing journey and the time savings (or losses) it generated in comparison to the public transit equivalent. Various geographic and temporal aggregations are considered to try and find underlying patterns in the travel decisions of New Yorkers. Citywide analysis suggests that approximately 15% of for-hire-vehicle trips and 18% of taxi trips were in fact longer in length than the equivalent public transit journey, and when just considering trips within Manhattan, those measures rise to 29% and 19% respectively.

Additionally, the financial value of ride-hailing services, merit of governmental and public criticisms of the recent growth of these systems, and impact of possible legislation is considered.