We consider an on-demand service platform (e.g., Uber, Lyft, DiDi) that serves two customer classes with distinct willingness to wait and to pay. We formulate this problem as a Markov decision process in which the platform controls customer admission and service provider allocation. Using our model's structural properties, we show that the optimal policy is characterized by two admission thresholds. In a numerical study, we then compare the optimal policy with several simpler policies.
De Munck, Thomas ; Chevalier, Philippe ; Tancrez, Jean-Sébastien ; et. al. Priority Management on Service Platforms with Waiting Time Differentiation.MSOM 2022 (Munich, Germany, du 26/06/2022 au 28/06/2022).