Request for Clarification on Ride Mode and Shared Mobility

[ArezHK]

Hi,

I have some questions regarding the ride mode in MATsim and would appreciate your insights.

In general, ride mode refers to a person sharing a ride with another person (a driver), such as in taxis or DRT. However, while analyzing scenarios like the Berlin scenario in the output data, I noticed that ride mode is visualized as a teleported mode—it does not affect vehicle occupancies or routing patterns. However, in the config file, it is defined as a routed mode in the network. Could you clarify why this is the case?

Additionally, I would like to enable family members or neighbors to share rides. How can I implement this, and which MATsim contribs would be best suited for this purpose? For instance, suppose Person A owns a car and wants to reach their destination, while their neighbor or family member also needs to travel to a location near the driver’s destination.

Lastly, I would appreciate some clarification on the differences between carsharing, taxis, ride mode, and pooling in MATsim. Also, how does car availability (as defined in the config) impact the simulation?

Thank you in advance for your help!

[rakow]

Hello,

the ride mode in the Berlin model is a person sharing a ride in a private car. Taxis or DRT are not included here.
This mode is routed so that persons using the ride mode experience the same travel time as if they would use the car themselves.
The ride mode is rather artificial, because this model does not include any household structures. They are teleported, because they don't incur an additional vehicle on the road.

To potentially model private shared rides there is a recent approach by @sebhoerl :
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050923006269
#2811

But I don't know if the code is public yet and if it has been used in the context you are asking for. I don't think there is something out-of-the-box that does what you need.

For DRT it is different, because these vehicles will be shared by multiple passengers if enabled in the config.
If you disable car availability for a person, they will simply not be able to use the car at all.