# Investigating the Influential Factors of Ride-Hailing Usage Frequency in the Post-Pandemic Era
## 1 Introduction  
In recent years, with the advent of the internet and the rise of mobile payments, ride-hailing services such as Uber, Lyft, and DiDi Chuxing have experienced exponential growth. As of 2017, Uber had operated in more than 760 cities across 84 countries, and 20% of rides were provided by UberPool [1]. Lyft has operated in over 200 cities in the United States, and about 35% of rides are offered through Lyft Shared [2, 3]. DiDi Chuxing serves more than 60 cities in China, with daily orders exceeding 2.4 million [4]. With their flexible and convenient features, ride-hailing services have gained popularity among residents and play a significant role in urban transportation systems. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the end of 2019, this highly contagious respiratory system syndrome has rapidly spread worldwide and has become a severe public health problem [5, 6]. The impact of this public health event on residents' daily travel behavior and the urban transportation structure has been unprecedented, andthe travel behavior of passengers has gradually undergone structural changes in vehicle preferences, travel time allocation, and supply-demand balance [7]. With widespread vaccination, public health measures (such as mask-wearing and social distancing), and the rapid response to the outbreak and effective transmission control strategies, the pandemic has been effectively controlled, and various regions across the world have entered the post-pandemic era. For instance, New York City in the United States began reopening most public and private services and stores in June 2020 [8]; the UK referred to the period after 19 July 2021 as the \"post-pandemic period\" [9]; Xi'an in China lifted its \"Emergency Response\" policy on 28 February 2020 [10]; and, in September 2020, China's education and economic sectors resumed face-to-face activity, relevant scholars referred to this time until COVID-19 disappears or a vaccine is widely available as the \"post-pandemic era\" [11]. However, due to residents' heightened concerns about infection risks during the pandemic and the impact of travel inertia, ride-hailing trips in the post-pandemic era have not yet recovered to the pre-pandemic level. This phenomenon also reflects the change in people's perception of safety, and residents are more inclined to choose safer travel modes. Although scholars have extensively studied the influential factors of passenger behavior in choosing ride-hailing services during the regular period and the pandemic period, they have not yet analyzed ride-hailing behavior characteristics and preferences in the post-pandemic era. In this period, the health and safety issues of ride-hailing travel are still the main concern of passengers, and many passengers' reduced trust in shared travel may lead them to reduce their use of ride-hailing services. The change in travel habits also makes passengers more inclined to choose other modes of travel, such as driving or walking, further reducing the dependence on ride-hailing. At the same time, passengers consider factors such as personal space and the number of passengers in their travel choices, which affects the recovery of ride-hailing travel. However, ensuring the safety of residents traveling and quickly restoring the capacity of ride-hailing services in the post-pandemic era is the fundamental basis for constructing the transportation guarantee system within the urban emergency management system. Therefore, comparing the travel behavior of ride-hailing passengers before and after the pandemic (i.e., the pre-pandemic era and the post-pandemic era) can clearly identify the influential factors of changes in travel patterns at different stages, thus helping to understand the influential mechanism of multi-dimensional influential factors on ride-hailing travel in the post-pandemic era.