Impact of spatio-temporal changes of the built environment on taxi trips - a comparison before and during the pandemic

This paper investigates the changes in the built environment on the drivers of taxi trips during special periods. Based on the division of the Spatial Research Unit and the calculation of built environment indicators, SARAR (Spatial Autoregressive Model with Spatial Autoregressive Disturbances) models were constructed to analyze the differences in the impact of the built environment on taxi trips during normal and pandemic periods. The results show that taxi trips changed significantly in visible spatio-temporal dimensions after the pandemic; meanwhile, the drivers of taxi trips changed significantly. During the pandemic, the impact of the non-essential residential built environment on taxi trips decreased. Commuting behaviour consistently has a low impact on taxi trips, while health services consistently depend on taxi trips. Taxis demonstrate a complementary relationship with the metro system and a competitive relationship with buses. The findings of this study may have significant implications for urban transportation planning and management.