A region-dependent e-hailing service pricing strategy for rapid massive evacuation

Unpredictable large amount of travel demands often occurs in urban area, and e-hailing services are often used as an important travel modal for mitigating such surge traffic. Effective pricing and scheduling strategies are urgently needed to optimize e-hailing vehicle supply and enhance evacuation efficiency during mass gathering events. Based on the method of Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram (MFD), mathematical models are presented to characterize the time-varying evolution of both e-hailing vehicles and other vehicles within a two-region transport system, and management approaches are also provided to improve the evacuation process. Considering drivers’ repositioning decisions and passengers’ demand dynamics, a region-dependent pricing strategy is developed for rapid massive evacuation. In the numerical examples, it is observed that the region-dependent pricing strategy effectively allocates a more balanced distribution of vacant vehicle supply, despite higher generalized wage for drivers and increased generalized cost for passengers. More importantly, the region-dependent pricing strategy can significantly shorten total evacuation time, and lead to more stable traffic condition.