Abstract
The current situation for the Japanese taxi industry is very severe, especially in regional areas. An ever-decreasing number of passengers are using these services, and the government and taxi industry are trying to improve the currently unfavourable business environment. In order to do this, it is necessary to first understand how the characteristics of taxi journeys are affected by temporal and spatial changes. This study aims to elucidate the actual usage of taxis in a regional city in Japan, Toyohashi, by analysing digital data recorded from taxi trips, which were collected automatically by digital tachographs equipped with GPS. We also analysed the characteristics that affected taxi usage in individual districts using multiple regression analyses.
