'Happy Rides Are All Alike, Every Unhappy Ride Is Unhappy in Its Own Way': Passengers' Emotional Experiences While Using a Mobile Application for Ride-Sharing

摘要

Ride-sharing is a rising approach that provides more convenience and flexibility for road users. Previous research has examined the process, existing forms, and matching algorithms of real-time dynamic ride-sharing technology, but we know little about how users feel when they use a ride-sharing application. In this paper, we describe a study that investigates passengers' emotional experiences when using a ride-sharing application and examines factors related to passengers' emotional experiences. We conducted a survey with 1,129 users of a major ride-sharing app from four cities in China. Results show that: (1) passengers feel more positive emotional experiences (75%) such as 'satisfaction' (47%) than negative emotions; (2) negative emotional experiences (worry, disappointment, anger) differ from each other in causal agency, emotional outlet, and action tendency; (3) context of use, interaction, and user characteristics are related to passengers' emotional experiences. The results provide some preliminary understanding of the passengers' emotional experiences, and could be helpful to improve the design of such socio-technical solutions.