"Ride-hailing accounts for an 83 percent increase in the miles cars travel for ride-hailing passengers...." "...There is decrease in overall transportation efficiency due to more car miles on the road, often traveling without passengers. For every 100 miles carrying passengers, Uber and Lyft drivers travel an additional 69 miles without a passenger, conservatively...." /Uber/Lyft (and the evolution to autonomous?) -- way better than taxis (imo) , .. but -- as a complete substitute for individual transportation -- may have a downside. //just one study -- but the complete opposite of reduced VMT that we've heard up to this point ///maybe Wayne has some insight here...
But I heard it would be all rainbows and unicorns! My car travels only as far as I need to travel. Unless the Uber is my personal chauffer and sits there waiting for me all day, of course it'll have to travel more before and after I'm on board.
I like to think that a ride-hailing society would benefit from having more right-sized vehicles do the transporting. For example, Americans buy pick ups because that vehicle has the highest overall utility. They may need the hauling capability only 5% of the time but they buy the pick up anyway because when they want to haul they want to haul. 95% of the time, the bed is empty or a trash barge. Ride hailing offers the flexibility of ordering a car for that ride to the airport or a pick-up for that Home Depot plywood sale.
My question is: what is fundamentally different here from Taxis? My use of Uber consists of rides to the airport, nights out to the bars, travelling downtown in large cities (often cheaper than parking), and visiting other cities without a car rental. In my early twenties, we would just call taxis to do all of this. There's been a lot of shift from Taxis to Ubers. My miles traveled per year in an Uber is probably 1-2 percent. I think the number of users who use it for replacement of their day-to-day transportation are rare, except for perhaps in centers of very large cities, where it's cheaper than a car due to the high cost of parking. One thing I will say is that I believe Uber has reduced the number of drunken drivers on the road by being so convenient and easy to use.
The short answer is 'smartphones'. The whole "connectivity-computer age" thing has allowed a sort of 'independent contractor -- crowd-sourced' service that wasn't possible before.. In a lot of ways, it's tough/impossible for the old taxi-service business model (i.e. cars, garage, office, full time drivers, full time dispatchers) to compete.
Hi All: Rideshare vehicles are taking over many areas of the inner city and even some of the less traveled suburbs. From reports, every rideshare mile is equivalent to 2.6 miles of personal transportation unfortunately. There is no way in hell Rideshare is saving the country any fuel by any means. They are however powering an economic boom for Bars, Restaurants, Concert Venues, and airports to name a few. The downsides of the economic boom are public transportation - down a significant double digit percentage in Chicago, Parking Garages are having their @$$ handed to them. I wonder why that is? Taxis are beginning to hold there own as Uber and Lyft Rider rates have climbed significantly in the past 9-months with the new Fixed pricing model and in some cases, surpass taxi rates. Better car and service vs Taxis but there is a price. In any case, open up an Uber and Lyft rider app and in downtown Chicago and LA, there are times when 12 to 14 cars are shown between both platforms within 4-square blocks! It is ridiculous! Wayne
Wayne, are you still driving for Uber/Lyft. I enjoyed reading your documentation of the experience. Also I read that you were closing on your house. Have you moved to Cal. permanently?
Hi Jud: The move is a success. I still have not got my Reg, plates, and DL swapped over. Maybe another week or so I guess? 67k miles on my 10-month old Elantra. Location, Carlsbad, Calif. Wayne
