The comparison of travel patterns between taxi and private car at Beijing Capital International Airport area

Abstract

In last two years, the rapid development of Internet based ride-sharing has brought great changes to travel pattern of residents. However, few studies has been made to find out the unique travel patterns of Internet based ride-sharing. In this paper, License plate data at the Beijing Capital International Airport area are used to study the travel patterns of taxis and private cars. By comparing the trip records of taxis and private cars, two indicators, the distribution characteristics of vehicle volume and the balanced patterns of time, are selected to identify the ride-sharing cars from private cars. The results showed that there are more taxis than private cars arrival the airport in the evening and the arriving time of private cars is more concentrated. Finally, we used these indicators identify the ride-sharing vehicles from private cars. All these findings will be useful for further research and policy making.