Accessing shared mobility impacts on urban traffic networks through discrete event simulations

Abstract

Many on-demand transportation services are gaining attention in recent years, in the field of shared mobility. However, there is little evidence on how they affect congestion. Thus, this paper aims to provide evidence based on simulations for the impacts of an expanding ride-sourcing system over traffic conditions and vice-versa. The main findings indicate that there might be an optimal number of vehicles to operate ride-sourcing, which can only be accessed considering the effect of congestion in the modeling process (with a Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram, for instance). Results also indicate that increasing the availability of vehicles mainly leads to more total traveled kilometers and higher congestion.