Influence of real-time information provision to vacant taxi drivers on taxi system performance

This paper assumes that all taxi drivers adopt a profit maximization strategy when searching for customers. Some taxi drivers are provided with real-time information on customer and taxi queue lengths at all taxi stands while others have no information at all. The questions to be investigated are: (1) will equipped taxi drivers earn a higher profit compared to the uninformed taxi drivers? (2) What is the impact of real-time information provision to a portion of all the taxi drivers on the overall taxi system performance? To find answers to these questions, a case study is conducted by assuming a hypothetical linear city with a single city centre, ten taxi stands and twenty residential zones. A discrete-event dynamic simulation model is adopted to simulate the movements of taxis and to estimate various taxi system performance characteristics, such as taxi operation profit and customer waiting time. The time period simulated is a 3-hour morning commune. The taxi fleet size, fare structure, taxi operation cost and customer demand pattern are all assumed given. The simulation model is used to investigate the variation of taxi system performance with the proportion of informed taxi drivers in the taxi fleet.