Accommodating user preferences in ad hoc shared ride trip planning using GIS

Ad hoc shared ride trip planning (SRTP) utilizes mobile devices, geo-sensors and wireless networks to match on-the-fly individual travel demand with transport supply. It represents one of many alternatives to single occupancy vehicle use. This paper outlines a SRTP approach via a two-phase algorithm based on user preferences in a time-dependent routing. Whereas current algorithms use minimization of travel time as the only optimization criterion in trip planning, in the framework presented here, the user can specify multiple trip preferences including travel time, walking time, number of transfers between cars and trip length. Various scenarios are simulated in the city of Tehran (Iran) to demonstrate how preference settings affect the routes of ad hoc shared journeys.