Travellers' willingness to pay and perceived value of time in ride-sharing: an experiment on China

Rapid development of the ride-sharing economy has led to a rising need to better understand travellers' decision making regarding their travel time and cost. The present study conducted a travel choice experiment using smartphone applications, based on data collected from 532 respondents and 2128 stated-preference surveys in China. Based on prospect theory, the experiment utilized a coupon reward policy to analyze how much ride-sharing platforms might influence travellers' choices in both work and leisure contexts. The results of an ordered logit model revealed that older residents were likely to pay more to reduce waiting time. It was further found that tourists had significantly higher probabilities to take expensive alternatives with shorter queueing time. The tourists' value of time was higher than that of residents, while the reward policy employed was found to increase the residents' value of time. Specific theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.