{"title":"Efficiency with consent: Permutable queueing in on-demand services","authors":"Tianyu Wang , Desheng Wu , Jiaxian Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2025.103361","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the context of ride-hailing, efficiency and fairness are at times competing objectives. Ride-hailing service providers use batch matching during non-rush hours and switch to queueing mode during rush hours. Batch matching achieves higher efficiency regardless of when orders are submitted, while in the queueing mode, orders are fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis at a given pick-up location. This study proposes a permutable queueing mode to improve efficiency under fairness in ride-hailing services during rush hour. In the proposed mode, the sequence of serving orders can be permuted based on customers’ behavior. The mechanism is modeled using a Markov Decision Process and solved by Deep Q-Network with space reduction techniques. Moreover, as a sub-problem of the proposed mode, the study examines the Dial-A-Ride problem in the conventional queueing mode by proposing a polynomial exact algorithm, an asymptotic algorithm, and a heuristic algorithm. Through simulation experiments using real-world data, we observed that queue permutation outperformed the conventional mode in terms of both profitability and customer experience. Managerial insights are derived that virtual queueing does more harm than good, as it does not enhance profits while misleading users during extended waiting periods.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"138 ","pages":"Article 103361"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305048325000878","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MANAGEMENT","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In the context of ride-hailing, efficiency and fairness are at times competing objectives. Ride-hailing service providers use batch matching during non-rush hours and switch to queueing mode during rush hours. Batch matching achieves higher efficiency regardless of when orders are submitted, while in the queueing mode, orders are fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis at a given pick-up location. This study proposes a permutable queueing mode to improve efficiency under fairness in ride-hailing services during rush hour. In the proposed mode, the sequence of serving orders can be permuted based on customers’ behavior. The mechanism is modeled using a Markov Decision Process and solved by Deep Q-Network with space reduction techniques. Moreover, as a sub-problem of the proposed mode, the study examines the Dial-A-Ride problem in the conventional queueing mode by proposing a polynomial exact algorithm, an asymptotic algorithm, and a heuristic algorithm. Through simulation experiments using real-world data, we observed that queue permutation outperformed the conventional mode in terms of both profitability and customer experience. Managerial insights are derived that virtual queueing does more harm than good, as it does not enhance profits while misleading users during extended waiting periods.
期刊介绍:
Omega reports on developments in management, including the latest research results and applications. Original contributions and review articles describe the state of the art in specific fields or functions of management, while there are shorter critical assessments of particular management techniques. Other features of the journal are the "Memoranda" section for short communications and "Feedback", a correspondence column. Omega is both stimulating reading and an important source for practising managers, specialists in management services, operational research workers and management scientists, management consultants, academics, students and research personnel throughout the world. The material published is of high quality and relevance, written in a manner which makes it accessible to all of this wide-ranging readership. Preference will be given to papers with implications to the practice of management. Submissions of purely theoretical papers are discouraged. The review of material for publication in the journal reflects this aim.