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Academic Journal of Environment & Earth Science, 2024, 6(6); doi: 10.25236/AJEE.2024.060610.

Study on the impact of online car-hailing services on urban air pollution

Author(s)

Jieqiong Cao

Corresponding Author:
Jieqiong Cao
Affiliation(s)

Fuzhou Institute of Technology, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350506, China

Abstract

Online car-hailing service is an emerging mode of transportation, which has been widely concerned by the public since its popularity. The motor vehicle travel mode represented by online car booking is developed based on the background of shared travel, and its original intention is to improve the use of vehicles through efficient matching, thereby reducing energy consumption and vehicle exhaust emissions. However, with the popularity of ride-hailing, people who used to travel by bus, foot and bicycle are turning to ride-hailing, which may increase fuel consumption and carbon emissions. Whether the online car-hailing service alleviates or intensifies environmental pollution has become a major practical issue that needs to be solved. Based on this, this paper selects the panel data of 151 cities at or above the prefecture level in China from 2008 to 2016, takes the entry of online car-hailing services as a quasi-natural experiment, takes the cities with Online car-hailing services as the experimental group, and the cities without online car hailing services as the control group. The net effect of the entry of online car-hailing services on urban air pollution level was investigated empirically by using the Difference-in-Differences method, and a series of robustness tests were conducted. According to the conclusions, the corresponding policy recommendations are put forward. The findings are as follows: (1) Compared with cities without ride-hailing services, the PM2.5 surface concentration in cities with ride-hailing services decreased by 3.3% on average; (2) A series of subsequent robustness tests supported the conclusion that there was a causal effect between online car-hailing services and reduced air pollution levels; This paper has enriched the relevant research on online car-hailing services and environmental pollution, and provided environmental evidence for the assessment of economic and social benefits of online car-hailing services from the perspective of air pollution.

Keywords

Online car-hailing services; Difference-in-Differences method; Air pollution

Cite This Paper

Jieqiong Cao. Study on the impact of online car-hailing services on urban air pollution. Academic Journal of Environment & Earth Science (2024), Vol. 6, Issue 6: 67-76. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJEE.2024.060610.

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