Abstract
This paper proposes an equilibrium analysis method and a profit maximization method to derive the optimal fare and number of vehicles for a high convenience flat-rate shared-ride taxi service. The targeted service of the analysis is high convenience shared ride taxi services in which users can get on within 10 to 30 minutes on average after their request, and aimed at being an alternative to driving a car. In the equilibrium analysis, the interaction between the waiting time and the membership is analyzed, by combining a demand function and a performance function derived from an operation simulation. Using the functional relation of the fare and the number of vehicles on the equilibrium membership, the optimization method to decide the fare and the number of vehicles is proposed. In addition, a calculation example of the equilibrium analysis and the optimization process is presented using the demand function estimated from a survey and the performance function derived from an original operation simulation.
