Shared Mobility in Berlin: An Analysis of Ride-Pooling with Car Mobility Data

TL;DR

This study simulates ride-pooling in Berlin, showing it can significantly reduce driven distances and increase vehicle occupancy, offering a promising sustainable alternative to private car use in urban areas.

Contribution

It provides a detailed simulation and analysis of ride-pooling potential in Berlin, highlighting its feasibility and benefits for urban mobility and sustainability.

Findings

All city center trips can be served with 4700 vehicles.

Ride-pooling increases occupancy to 2.6 and reduces driven distance by 65%.

60% of trips in Berlin can be served with 10000 vehicles, reducing driven distance by 40%.

Abstract

In face of the threat of a climate catastrophe and the resulting urgent need for decarbonization together with the widespread emergence of the sharing economy, shared pooled mobility has been suggested as an alternative to private vehicle use. However, until now all of its real-life implementations have served a niche market, adjacent to taxi services. To better understand this discrepancy, as well as the potential of pooled mobility, we have here simulated and analyzed pooled mobility on the street network of Berlin with car trip data as input for ride requests. We measure the rate of sharable trips, the relative travel time of passengers, the average occupancy of the vehicles, the relatively driven distance compared to driving with a private vehicle. We observe that for requests in the city center of Berlin it is possible to serve all mobility requests currently done by car, with around 4700 vehicles. The travel time is around 1.34 higher than with a private vehicle, the vehicle's occupancy increases to 2.6. The driven distance is reduced by 65%. In the whole area of Berlin we observe that a ride-pooling system with 10000 vehicles can serve 60% of the trips. The travel time is 1.4 times higher than with a private vehicle, the occupancy gets three and the driven distance is reduced by 40%.