Is Ride-Hailing Competing or Cooperating with Subway? A Survey in Chinese Cities

Ride-hailing services, characterized by convenience, flexibility, and on-demand availability, have substantially reshaped urban mobility patterns, posing uncertain impacts on subway ridership. To clarify the competitive and cooperative dynamics between two modes, a latent class choice model (LCCM) is employed using revealed preference survey data (N = 2061) collected from Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen in China. Three distinct commuter segments are identified through latent class analysis, and results indicate that ride-hailing and subway predominantly exhibit a competitive relationship (46.34%). Moreover, user heterogeneity is evident across user groups. Competitive users ride more frequently and commute shorter distances, and carless users tend toward competitive relation, while cooperative behaviors are linked to income and metro accessibility. Interestingly, commonly used spatial proximity assumption in previous studies exerts few influences on empirical modal interactions. Designing user-targeted takeaways for different transportation participants, this work offers valuable insights for improving multimodal travel efficiency and sustainable urban mobility.