Over the past decade, ride-sharing services have become increasingly important, with U.S. market leaders such as Uber and Lyft expanding to over 900 cities worldwide and facilitating billions of rides annually. This rise reflects their ability to meet users' convenience, efficiency, and affordability needs. However, in busy areas and surge zones, the benefits of these platforms can diminish, prompting riders to relocate to cheaper, more convenient locations or seek alternative transportation. While much research has focused on the strategic behavior of drivers, the strategic actions of riders, especially when it comes to riders walking outside of surge zones, remain under-explored. This paper examines the impact of rider-side strategic behavior on surge dynamics. We investigate how riders' actions influence market dynamics, including supply, demand, and pricing. We show significant impacts, such as spillover effects where demand increases in areas adjacent to surge zones and prices surge in nearby areas. Our theoretical insights and experimental results highlight that rider strategic behavior helps redistribute demand, reduce surge prices, and clear demand in a more balanced way across zones.

翻译：过去十年间，拼车服务的重要性日益凸显，以Uber和Lyft为代表的美国市场领导者已扩展至全球900多个城市，每年促成数十亿次出行。这一增长反映了其满足用户对便捷性、效率与经济性需求的能力。然而，在繁忙区域和高峰加价区，这些平台的效益可能减弱，促使乘客转向更便宜、更便捷的地点或寻求替代交通方式。尽管现有研究多关注司机的策略性行为，乘客的策略性行动——尤其是乘客步行至高峰加价区外的行为——仍未得到充分探索。本文研究了乘客侧策略性行为对高峰动态的影响。我们探究了乘客行为如何影响市场动态，包括供给、需求和定价。我们揭示了显著的影响，例如需求溢出效应——即高峰加价区相邻区域的需求增加，以及邻近区域的价格激增。我们的理论见解与实验结果表明，乘客的策略性行为有助于重新分配需求、降低高峰价格，并以更均衡的方式实现跨区域的需求出清。