Spatial distribution of ride-hailing trip demand and its association with walkability and neighborhood characteristics

Despite the recent growth and popularity of ride-hailing services throughout the world, there's still a lack of research on its determinants. This paper aims to examine the associations between ride-hailing and their spatial distribution in relation to key socioeconomic and built environment characteristics both at the trip origin and destination. To do so the study uses official data provided by Transportation Network Companies operating in the city of Chicago, with 32 million trips logged between November 1st, 2018 to June 28th, 2019. Among the built environment attributes we focus on the relationship between walkability levels and demand for ride-hailing. Study findings indicate an association between ride-hailing and income levels, car-availability and race-ethnicity. Results also suggest a positive association between walkability at either trip origin or trip destination and ride-hailing demand, together with a negative one between access to transit and ride-hail use. Findings suggest some worrisome conclusions, with ride-hailing being seldom used among the more deprived areas. Ride-hailing is predominantly being used to travel between highly accessible areas which should be accessed using more sustainable transport modes. Positive takeaways are the lack of race disparities in ride-hailing demand and the capacity of ride-hailing to interact and complement public transit provision.