User-Based Rebalancing by Dynamic Pricing in Free-Floating Vehicle Sharing

A Case Study with Multiple Living Labs

Master thesis (2020)

Authors

N.H. Neijmeijer Mechanical Engineering

Contributors

R.R. Negenborn Transport Engineering and Logistics - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (supervisor 1)
H. Polinder Transport Engineering and Logistics - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (supervisor 2)
F. Schulte Transport Engineering and Logistics - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (supervisor 2)
M.C. de Jong (supervisor 2)
Faculty
Mechanical Engineering
Copyright: © 2020 Nout Neijmeijer
Dynamic Pricing User-based operations User-based rebalancing Free-floating vehicle sharing Price sensitivity Living lab
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Published Date

29-04-2020

Language

English

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Faculty

Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

Dynamic pricing can be used for better fleet distribution in free-floating vehicle sharing (FFVS), and thus increase utilization and revenue for the provider by reducing the supply-demand asymmetry. Supply-demand asymmetry refers to the existence of an undersupply of vehicles at some locations at the same time as underutilization of vehicles at other locations. We propose to use dynamic pricing as an instrument to incentivize users to rebalance these vehicles from low demand locations to high demand locations. Despite significant research in rebalancing vehicle sharing, literature so far lacks experimental results on dynamic pricing in free-floating vehicle sharing. We propose to use an algorithm that minimizes the differences in the idle time of vehicles. The algorithm is tested in a real-life experiment that was conducted in cooperation with an FFVS provider. The experiment shows that even slight dierences in pricing and a novice algorithm can already influence user-behavior to counter the supply-demand asymmetry. Improving the existing algorithm by doing more experimental research is advised to further uncover the potential of this strategy.