Newswise — A new study tracking trends in ride hailing shows no slow down in the growth of services like Lyft and Uber. And that could bring more change to cities and systems in transportation planning say researchers in Arizona State University’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning.
Citing almost a decade’s worth of data compiled through the 2017 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), the study shows a rapid rise in ride hailing practices across the country. According to the NHTS, use of for-hire vehicles has doubled since 2009 but the share of travel that for-hire vehicles represent among all trips across the country is still small at about 0.5%. Still, the number of people who use ride hailing services is close to 10% of the population - and growing.
Among the study’s other findings:
- Ride-hailing users tend to be younger, live in denser cities and earn higher income than the average American.
- Older, denser, transit-oriented cities such as San Francisco, Boston, Washington D.C. and New York tend to have higher representations of users of ride hailing services.
- Ride-hailing is growing in smaller metropolitan areas.
- People are using ride-hailing alongside other modes of transportation.
Researchers say the growth of ride hailing also threatens to disrupt revenue streams for many cities that rely on parking fees or enforcement to fund municipal operations. Noting the number of private parking facilities and airports that have experienced a drop in revenue due to ride hailing services, cities according to researchers will need to replace existing sources of revenue or go without if ride hailing continues to expand.
The study, Trends in Taxi Use and the Advent of Ridehailing, 1995-2017: Evidence from the US National Household Travel Survey, is published in Urban Science.
ASU researchers are available to discuss this study. Contact Suzanne Wilson at [email protected] to schedule an interview.
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