Shareability of taxi trips reimbursed by the National Health Insurance and trips funded by the municipality in Oulu, Finland, in 2016

Background There is an increasing trend towards sharing taxi trips reimbursed by the National Health Insurance or trips funded by the municipalities. However, trips related to different legislations are never combined.

Methods Geospatial analysis methods were used to assess the destinations and shareability 
potential of taxi trips made in the city of Oulu, Finland, in 2016.

Results The destinations of taxi trips were different depending on the funding source. There was considerable potential for more extensive ride-sharing. While most potential combinations of trips consisted of trips related to the same funding source, the two types of trips could have been combined in many instances. As a drawback, at least one additional stop would be added to trips reimbursed by the National Health Insurance as a consequence of ride-sharing involving two types of trips.

Conclusions Potentially a considerable reduction in the number of trips and travelled distances could be achieved by performing more extensive ride-sharing for taxi transport reimbursed by society. However, special requirements pertaining to accessible vehicles and inconvenience resulting from ride-sharing need to be taken into account. There is significant regional variation in the proportion of clients entitled to private transport without the presence of other passengers in the vehicle. 
Nevertheless, the study showed that this would not be a major impediment to more extensive ride-sharing.