Gender‐Related Operational Issues Arising from On‐Demand Ride‐Hailing Platforms: Safety Concerns and System Configuration

• DOI: 10.1111/poms.13444
• Publication Date: 2021-05-01T09:20:27Z
• Authors: Yanli Tang; Pengfei Guo; Christopher S. Tang; Yulan Wang
• Keywords: Pooling

Female user (driver and rider) safety is a serious concern for ride‐hailing platforms. One way to address this migrate from the traditional “pooling” system that matches riders with drivers without considering gender “hybrid” “female‐only” option. Will such hybrid result in win‐win‐win outcome all involved parties (riders, drivers, platform)? To answer question, we investigate performance of two operational systems: pooling system. For each system, analyze two‐stage queueing game determine equilibrium “joining” “participating” behavior then derive platform's optimal pricing wage decisions. We posit mismatch cost incurred by safety‐concerned female when she matched male counterpart ride. By comparing outcomes associated systems, draw following conclusions: users’ above certain level, switching can win‐win users platform. However, safety‐unconcerned might be worse off due change configuration. Our results also help us rectify some our intuitions about these systems. One, reducing may not lead more joining even though it boosts profit general. Two, necessary pay higher price they opt instead drivers. relate configurations adopted various platforms concerns different countries.