Profitable market mechanism for platform-based aggregator taxi services

For platform based aggregator taxi services, selling the rides through appropriate channels is critical. Typically, aggregators use a listed price strategy in the regular and opaque channels for the passengers. The listed price channels’ rigidity restricts the passengers to only accept or reject rid...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Swaminathan Rammohan, Rahul R. Marathe, Nandan Sudarsanam
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2022-12-01
Series:Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198222001476
_version_ 1811298237926080512
author Swaminathan Rammohan
Rahul R. Marathe
Nandan Sudarsanam
author_facet Swaminathan Rammohan
Rahul R. Marathe
Nandan Sudarsanam
author_sort Swaminathan Rammohan
collection DOAJ
description For platform based aggregator taxi services, selling the rides through appropriate channels is critical. Typically, aggregators use a listed price strategy in the regular and opaque channels for the passengers. The listed price channels’ rigidity restricts the passengers to only accept or reject rides without further involvement. We propose an additional ‘Name Your Own Price’ (NYOP) channel with opaqueness in terms of features and extra waiting time that captures the passengers’ and drivers’ preference. The passengers with low ride valuation who were previously priced out of the market can be accommodated by NYOP since it offers rides at a reduced price. In our model for the drivers, we specifically analyze an incentive-practice where the drivers are offered a lump-sum amount for completing a threshold number of trips on a day-to-day basis. When such incentives are offered by the aggregator to the drivers, we find that a rational driver in NYOP should aggressively bid for a ride if the driver is away from the threshold for incentives, and vice versa. We show that with higher levels of opacity, the aggregator can achieve higher levels of passenger segmentation that in turn increases the overall aggregator’s revenue. Also, NYOP offers additional rides for drivers, which will generate extra revenue, and it also helps them reach the incentive threshold set by the aggregator. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the increase in the number of rides due to NYOP can be capitalized by the aggregator for generating additional revenue.
first_indexed 2024-04-13T06:16:32Z
format Article
id doaj.art-b5456c7e740548f098f96ca2bdd20dfe
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2590-1982
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-13T06:16:32Z
publishDate 2022-12-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives
spelling doaj.art-b5456c7e740548f098f96ca2bdd20dfe2022-12-22T02:58:48ZengElsevierTransportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives2590-19822022-12-0116100687Profitable market mechanism for platform-based aggregator taxi servicesSwaminathan Rammohan0Rahul R. Marathe1Nandan Sudarsanam2Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, 600036, IndiaCorresponding author.; Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, 600036, IndiaDepartment of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, 600036, IndiaFor platform based aggregator taxi services, selling the rides through appropriate channels is critical. Typically, aggregators use a listed price strategy in the regular and opaque channels for the passengers. The listed price channels’ rigidity restricts the passengers to only accept or reject rides without further involvement. We propose an additional ‘Name Your Own Price’ (NYOP) channel with opaqueness in terms of features and extra waiting time that captures the passengers’ and drivers’ preference. The passengers with low ride valuation who were previously priced out of the market can be accommodated by NYOP since it offers rides at a reduced price. In our model for the drivers, we specifically analyze an incentive-practice where the drivers are offered a lump-sum amount for completing a threshold number of trips on a day-to-day basis. When such incentives are offered by the aggregator to the drivers, we find that a rational driver in NYOP should aggressively bid for a ride if the driver is away from the threshold for incentives, and vice versa. We show that with higher levels of opacity, the aggregator can achieve higher levels of passenger segmentation that in turn increases the overall aggregator’s revenue. Also, NYOP offers additional rides for drivers, which will generate extra revenue, and it also helps them reach the incentive threshold set by the aggregator. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the increase in the number of rides due to NYOP can be capitalized by the aggregator for generating additional revenue.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198222001476Sharing economyTaxi pricingName Your Own PriceReverse Name Your Own PriceTarget based incentives
spellingShingle Swaminathan Rammohan
Rahul R. Marathe
Nandan Sudarsanam
Profitable market mechanism for platform-based aggregator taxi services
Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Sharing economy
Taxi pricing
Name Your Own Price
Reverse Name Your Own Price
Target based incentives
title Profitable market mechanism for platform-based aggregator taxi services
title_full Profitable market mechanism for platform-based aggregator taxi services
title_fullStr Profitable market mechanism for platform-based aggregator taxi services
title_full_unstemmed Profitable market mechanism for platform-based aggregator taxi services
title_short Profitable market mechanism for platform-based aggregator taxi services
title_sort profitable market mechanism for platform based aggregator taxi services
topic Sharing economy
Taxi pricing
Name Your Own Price
Reverse Name Your Own Price
Target based incentives
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198222001476
work_keys_str_mv AT swaminathanrammohan profitablemarketmechanismforplatformbasedaggregatortaxiservices
AT rahulrmarathe profitablemarketmechanismforplatformbasedaggregatortaxiservices
AT nandansudarsanam profitablemarketmechanismforplatformbasedaggregatortaxiservices