  The advent of shared-economy and smartphones made on-demand transportation
services possible, which created additional opportunities, but also more
complexity to urban mobility. Companies that offer these services are called
Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) due to their internet-based nature.
Although ride-sourcing is the most notorious service TNCs provide, little is
known about to what degree its operations can interfere in traffic conditions,
while replacing other transportation modes, or when a large number of idle
vehicles is cruising for passengers. We experimentally analyze the efficiency
of TNCs using taxi trip data from a Chinese megacity and a agent-based
simulation with a trip-based MFD model for determining the speed. We
investigate the effect of expanding fleet sizes for TNCs, passengers'
inclination towards sharing rides, and strategies to alleviate urban
congestion. We show that the lack of coordination of objectives between TNCs
and society can create 37% longer travel times and significant congestion.
Moreover, allowing shared rides is not capable of decreasing total distance
traveled due to higher empty kilometers traveled. Elegant parking management
strategies can prevent idle vehicles from cruising without assigned passengers
and lower to 7% the impacts of the absence of coordination.
