The benefits of meeting points in ride-sharing systems

• A ride-sharing system with meeting points allows more and multi-rider matches.
• An efficient algorithm to optimally match riders and drivers exists.
• Simulation shows that meeting points improve matching rate and mileage savings.

We investigate the potential benefits of introducing meeting points in a ride-sharing system. With meeting points, riders can be picked up and dropped off either at their origin and destination or at a meeting point that is within a certain distance from their origin or destination. The increased flexibility results in additional feasible matches between drivers and riders, and allows a driver to be matched with multiple riders without increasing the number of stops the driver needs to make. We design and implement an algorithm that optimally matches drivers and riders in large-scale ride-sharing systems with meeting points. We perform an extensive simulation study to assess the benefits of meeting points. The results demonstrate that meeting points can significantly increase the number of matched participants as well as the system-wide driving distance savings in a ride-sharing system.