Design and Analysis of On-Demand Mobility Systems

The past decade has seen vast advancements in various ICT (Information Communication, and Technology) platforms. These advancements have enabled the rise of innovative mobility solutions e.g. on-demand transport services. Such solutions offer flexible transport services to users in which users can receive tailor-made mobility solutions. Increasing evidence from the literature points at the potentially disruptive effects of such innovative mobility solutions on urban mobility. The effects range from traditional modes such as privately owned cars and public transport losing their market share to on-demand services, to the subsequent need for public transport systems to evolve to stay relevant. Modelling tools for the design and assessment of such on-demand transport services therefore needs to account for its implications for urban mobility by considering its interaction with other travel modes. Existing studies that have looked into the design and analysis of on-demand services largely overlooked the impact of these services on other travel modes and vice-versa. The existing literature hence considered the design and analysis of on-demand systems without investigating this effect of on-demand services on other travel modes and their overall impact on urban mobility. This study attempts to fill this research gap by developing an approach to the design and analysis of on-demand services in an urban mobility context. Two types of on-demand services are considered in this thesis, namely private and pooled. Both private and pooled on-demand services are characterised by a fleet of vehicles controlled by a central dispatching unit. They provide door-to-door service to passengers’ travel requests in real time. While the private on-demand service provides taxi-like service to passengers, pooled on-demand service allows multiple passengers to share the service.