Development and application of an energy use and CO2 emissions reduction evaluation model for China's online car hailing services

Emerging online car hailing services have caused many unintended consequences in urban centers such as more congested traffic and increased vehicle travels. Those unintended consequences have significant impacts on urban sustainability due to the increased fuel use and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. An evaluation model of online car hailing services was established to evaluate impact on energy use and CO2 in China. We found online car hailing services have taken over not only private vehicle travels but also travels fulfilled by other modes such as mass public transit, walking, and bicycling. Empirical case analysis combined with real data shows the operating mechanism, quantitative research method and different future scenario analysis results of the model we developed. Our findings suggest that policies should be developed to prevent online car hailing from attracting too many public transit riders and to improve the efficiency of private vehicle travels. As online car hailing is emerging in many cities around the world, lessons learned from China will be useful to inform the development of policies to avoid unintended consequences.