PONE-D-22-08009The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on ridesourcing services differed between small towns and large citiesPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Alsaleh,

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PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Partly

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: I Don't Know

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The authors investigated and compared factors influencing the use of RHA in the cities of Chicago, IL and Innisfil, ON during the COVID-19 pandemic using the random forest regression method. The results revealed the uniqueness of RHA trip characteristics in the big and the small cities and showed the different impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use behaviors of RHA in these two cities. Their results can be useful for transport planners and policymakers to better understand how people were dependent on RHA and how the sensitivity of RHA use to the change in travel demand characteristics (e.g., due to the pandemic, policy, new lifestyle). However, several improvements are required before the manuscript can be published.

• What’s the point of comparing big and small cities, and more specifically Innisfil and Chicago which are vastly different, not only in their sizes but also in different countries as well as transportation system infrastructure and travel demand characteristics. It’s no surprise that Covid would affect them in different ways. The analysis of Chicago data alone can potentially provide sufficient scientific contribution. How would data from the tiny Innisfil add to scientific knowledge? Why not the town of the same size in different countries, or different sizes in the same country? You need to provide more convincing justification of the choice of study areas.

• The methodology section needs elaboration. The diagram in Figure 1 should be explained in more detail. Also check for typos. Explanations of specific techniques, including Random forest regression, Bayesian optimization, and technical measurements (e.g., SHAP value, stringency index) are needed. Some equations and detailed descriptions of definition of dependent variables can be helpful.

• Descriptive statistics of data and commentaries are much needed.

• If the term “post-pandemic” was used, the authors should clearly state that which period was considered as post-pandemic.

• Would modeling the reduction of OD-pair trips gain more insights?

• Discussion should be improved. For example, how did the results link to area’s unique characteristics? How the transport policy or plan could be developed based on the findings? Any transportation policy implications with regards to Covid restrictions?

• Figs 2 and 3 are probably switched.

Reviewer #2: This paper aims to investigate the effect of COVID-19 on RS demand. This manuscript is fascinating, and I am impressed with this; however, I have some suggestions that the authors need to act on.

Abstract:

The authors stated that “it is still unclear how the pandemic affected the demand for ridesourcing Services”. In fact, some studies show that the demand for RS decrease due to pandemic (for example, see: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-021-10185-5. Due to this, the authors need to revise that sentence.

Introduction

1. “Previous literature revealed that the pandemic has significantly influenced all modes of transportation” � use and frequency of use (please add references)

2. Data collected from November 2018 to August 2021 � Explain a brief of government policies were applied to suppress the COVID-19 during the period in two cities. Clearly, it significantly influences the number of trips. I read that the authors have explained it in lines 122-128. But please explain in more detail because I believe that the government policies during the study period are changing rapidly.

Materials and Methods: Data collection

1. The authors stated that data for pre-pandemic period in Innisfil were obtained from Uber Technologies. Are there any other RS companies instead of Uber in that city? If yes, it could make the biased data. The authors need to explain about this.

2. Line 141-145: make it a sentence

Results

1. The authors stated that they use RF regression algorithms and include four performance metrics to evaluate the predictive accuracy of the models. However, I can not see those performance metrics in the result section. How can the authors ensure the readers and me that their model is correct?

2. The authors need to explain how to understand whether the considered variables significantly influence RH use or not. If I check your discussion, all included variables in Fig. 6 significantly influenced RH use with positive and negative signs. When I use the discrete choice model, for example, each variable has a p-value to determine whether or not a variable is significant.

3. How can the authors state that a variable has the highest effect while other variables have the lowest impact? Does it depend on the values in Fig. 6.? If yes, the authors need to state it.

Discussion and concluding remarks

1. Delete lines 389-394, because you have clearly stated it in the introduction section.

2. More importantly, clearly state how your findings fill the gap of previous findings.

3. The authors mentioned that the study contributes to policymakers as well as service providers to understand the future impact of the pandemic on ridesourcing services in terms of the recovery of the service, preparedness for additional waves of COVID-19 as well as other pandemics. Please add some examples of government policies in the discussion section based on your research findings to strengthen your statements.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on ridesourcing services differed between small towns and large cities

PONE-D-22-08009R1

Dear Dr. Alsaleh,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Hironori Kato, Dr. Eng.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: All comments have been satisfactorily addressed. There are some duplicated words and typos. Please check carefully.

Reviewer #2: The study has well addressed the comments raised in the previous round and has substantially improved a lot. I am confident that this study will be meaningful for both research and practise. I recommend to the editor that this paper can be accepted for publication.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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