Optimal parking provision for ride-sourcing services

Ride-sourcing services have become increasingly important in meeting travel needs in metropolitan areas. However, the cruising of vacant ride-sourcing vehicles generates additional traffic demand that may worsen traffic conditions. This paper investigates the allocation of a certain portion of road space to on-street parking for vacant ride-sourcing vehicles. A macroscopic conceptual framework is developed to capture the trade-off between capacity loss and the reduction of cruising. Considering a hypothetical matching mechanism adopted by the platform, we further materialize the framework and then apply it to study the interactions between the ride-sourcing system and parking provision under various market structures. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.