Ridesharing and Digital Resilience for Urban Anomalies: Evidence from the New York City Taxi Market
研究传统出租车和共享出行平台（如Uber）在城市异常事件中的表现差异，发现共享平台因技术和供给弹性更能应对不确定性，对平台策略设计有启示。
This article investigates how and why the traditional on-demand service (i.e., taxies) and ridesharing platforms (e.g., Uber) perform in contexts of urban uncertainty. We consider different types of unexpected urban anomalies and collect large-scale trip data on taxi and ridesharing services. Empirically, we employ a difference-in-differences econometric model to compare the platform-level performances (measured by the number of fulfilled trips) of a traditional taxi system and a ridesharing platform after urban anomaly shocks. We observe that the ridesharing platform significantly outperforms the traditional taxi platform in coping with the uncertainties brought about by unexpected anomalies. We conclude, conservatively, that the technological effect and technology-enabled supply elasticity, are the main factors determining the differences between the platforms during an urban anomaly. This work offers important insights into the design of platform strategies, especially for stimulation of the labor supply and incentivization of the adoption and use of technology in urban transportation systems in response to anomalous urban upheavals.