Comparative Analysis of Spatial-Temporal Distribution between Traditional Taxi Service and Emerging Ride-Hailing

The paradigms of taxis and ride-hailing, the two major players in the personal mobility market, are compared systematically and empirically in a unified spatial-temporal context. Supported by real field data from Xiamen, China, this research proposes a three-fold analytical framework to compare their mobilities, including (1) the spatial distributions of departures and arrivals by rank-size and odds ratio analysis, (2) the statistical characteristics of trip distances by spatial statistics and considering distance-decay effect, and (3) the meta-patterns inherent in the mobility processes by nonnegative tensor factorization. Our findings suggest that taxis and ride-hailing services share similar spatial patterns in terms of travel demand, but taxi demand heterogenizes more quickly with changes in population density. Additionally, the relative balance between the taxi industry and ride-hailing services shows opposite trends inside and outside Xiamen Island. Although the trip distances have similar statistical properties, the spatial distribution of the median trip distances reflects different urban structures. The meta-patterns detected from the origin-destination-time system via tensor factorization suggest that taxi mobilities feature exclusive nighttime intensities, whereas ride-hailing exhibits more prominent morning peaks on weekdays. Although ride-hailing contributes significantly to cross-strait interactions during daytime, there is a lack of efficient services to maintain such interactions at night.