Best frenemies? A characterization of TNC and transit users

Abstract

The emergence of transportation network companies (TNCs) has created new options for travelers and fierce competition for taxis and public transportation (PT). While the literature focuses either on TNCs or PT users, we contrast individuals/households who use only PT, only TNCs, or both by estimating a cross-nested logit on 2017 NHTS data. We analyzed both individuals (for consistency with most of the literature) and households (to account for intrahousehold travel dependencies). Our results show that the unit of analysis (individuals vs. households) does not matter much for our dataset. We found that individuals/households who use either PT or TNCs or both share socio-economic characteristics, reside in similar areas, and differ from individuals/households who use neither transit nor TNCs. In addition, individuals/households who use both PT and TNCs tend to be composed of Millennials and Generation Z, with a higher income, more education, no children, and fewer vehicles than drivers. Our findings highlight the danger for PT of entering into outsourcing agreements with TNCs, neglecting captive riders, and further exposing choice riders to TNCs.