Linear regression coupled Wasserstein generative adversarial network for direct demand modeling of ride-hailing trips in Chicago and Austin

Accurate estimation of ride-hailing demand and understanding of its influencing factors are necessary for modern-day transportation planning. Although modern machine learning techniques improve the predictive accuracy of zone-to-zone direct demand models, they lack inference ability due to their complex model structure. Furthermore, zone-to-zone direct demand models suffer from limited sample size for machine learning due to fixed number of origin-destination (OD) pairs. To overcome these limitations, we propose a linear regression coupled Wasserstein generative adversarial network (LR-WGAN) for direct demand modeling of zone-to-zone ride-hailing trips that captures both linear explanatory components and non-linear patterns and improves the predictive accuracy by generating data to expand the OD sample size. The proposed LR-WGAN is found to significantly improve the predictive accuracy of OD ride-hailing demand in Chicago and Austin. Furthermore, the linear explanatory component of the model is utilized to draw inferences regarding the relationship between OD ride-hailing demand and predictor variables.