The Guardian‘s Greg Lindsay discusses what many transportation planners have been worrying about-we all assume that Uber will displace and disrupt taxi and private automobiles-but what if we are wrong? What if Uber disrupts basic transit service?
“Traditional thinking would suggest that UberPool, which allows users to split the cost of trips with other Uber riders heading in the same direction, will always be inferior to public transport. Sitting in the backseat of a Prius may be more comfortable than standing on a crowded bus or train, continues this reasoning, but carpooling can’t substitute for mass transit at rush hours without massively increasing congestion.”
But oops! “Uber began offering “ride shares” for as little as $1 , introduced optimised pickup points that algorithmically recreate bus stops, and started testing semi-autonomous vehicles it hopes will solve its increasingly contentious labour issues.”
It is estimated that Uber passengers only pay about 40 per cent of the cost of each ride, and it has bee assumed that this might be predatory pricing with an aim to monopolise and control the market. When a system wide shutdown of the metro system happened in Washington DC , Uber, Lyft and other services offered shared rides way below the cost of a metro transit ticket. London’s tube strike last week saw Uber fare surcharges rocketing up 450 per cent in some cases. “As a spokesperson explained, “without this pricing, there would simply be no cars available”. Meanwhile, the number of licensed private-hire vehicles in London has nearly doubled from 59,000 in 2010 to more than 110,000 by the middle of 2016.”
What to do? Cities are partnering with Uber to fix weak transportation links and “then using its looming inevitability as an excuse to not improve their own service. Diverting funds to pay for blanket subsidies will only hasten the public system’s implosion.” Lindsay argues that the way to incentivize transit use and retention is to leverage “every tool at cities’ disposal, including lane access, parking regulations and incentives to shift the peak of rush hours commutes, to create communities that are at their best when served by mass transit – and could never be built around a million Ubers.”
It’s a compelling thought to create transit friendly cities and densities by putting public transportation policies and priorities first.
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Reblogged this on Sandy James Planner.
Jarrett Walker has made some insightful points about this issue. It’s not just about new tech or private transport vs. public transport, but how we build our cities.
http://humantransit.org/2016/10/lets-quit-pretending-about-uber.html
Using surplus car capacity in a car that goes anyway makes a lot of sense.
Green !
Where is Uber in (green) Vancouver ?
You’re making the assumption that the driver was going that direction to begin with and the use of the space would be ‘productive’…that’s rarely the case with Uber & Lyft drivers.
Both firms now have deals where if you lease a vehicle on a monthly basis and commit to a certain number of driving hours, they’ll provide a discount….they’re actively trying to encourage greater vehicle supply and use.
When visiting San Francisco, I once had a driver that lived in Stockton, commuted 2 hours into the city, drove Uber for 14 hours, and commuted back out because it was more lucrative than finding a job in Stockton. Effectively, one extra SOV on the inbound/outbound commute creating congestion, and another taxi plying the streets looking for fares.
This is hardly carpooling in the traditional sense of the word.
Uber drivers also do not make enough money, or have benefits. Sometimes they have underinsured cars. Automating drivers out of a job will also not address this labour standards problem, and will still require a subsidy to maintain the vast public road system.
Call me an Uber skeptic.
Awesome! Instead of public transit to far and remote places, which is expensive, transit orgs can contract rides with companies like uber, instead of running costly buses like in the suburbs.
Kyle, I suggest you read the link provided above to Human Transit.
I can see the transit unions jumping up and down with joy. I also see the various socialist city councils incl. MetroVan Mayors Council on Transportation caving to union donations and continuing to disallow Uber under the guise of “safety” and “consumer protection” !
Funny how massive “socialist” infrastructure has to underpin the fiction of private enterprise when it comes to roads and cars.
Thomas why do you blame the COV for this issue, clearly this is a provincial failure we do not have UBER. Otherwise we would see UBER in Langley, Whistler, Kamloops etc.
You may be right. The province is equally dragging their heels and hiding behind insurance and safety issues, but if CofV would take the lead and state “we want it” we’d see more traction like in Toronto or Edmonton.
Much blame to spread around to de-clog our roads using the most underutilized space namely spare seats in cars that go anyway !
ICBC surely could lower or eliminate premiums for “commercial” drivers that take a guy 1x or 10x a week.
if city charged a few cents per km per ride it would make up for the lost plate license revenue that has no to dropped almost zero.
Toronto: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/adventure/red-line/how-uber-is-ending-the-dirty-dealings-behind-torontos-cab-business/article25515301/
Ottawa: http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/city-hall-blog-what-a-taxi-plate-goes-for
New York: http://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-yellow-cab-medallion-prices-falling-further-2016-10
Anyone has info on cab plate value in Vancouver as I could not find any ?
Thomas the situation is not like in Toronto. Toronto did not ask for UBER. UBER came to Toronto because the province was not as tough and then after that the city could not say no because of the great service UBER provides.
I see uber use as exceptional for myself..ie. once a year, if that.
Since we seem to be talking about uber, has anyone used uber in another city? Tell us of your experiences.
Does uber require its drivers to install camera in their car in case something goes wrong..ie physical abuse of the driver…which by the way has happened in Calgary, Toronto?
Folks, the Uber founder is quite rich: http://www.canadianbusiness.com/lists-and-rankings/richest-people/rich-100-garrett-camp/ . Several billion dollars.
Are the Uber drivers well?
No point asking our government and rider-supported transit authorities to strike a conract with Uber.
Let Uber figure it out. As long as they don’t plug up the parking lots by the transit stations.
Private car hire has been available world wide for many decades. The only differences are the contemporary operators are much less expensive, the driver does not wear a chauffeur’s hat and the service runs on a smart phone app. Uber is inevitable. With smart phones it is easy for an underground operation to be up and running in a couple of days.
If you are in a transit friendly city where buses get direct routing in their own bus lane…
there is no much to be afraid of those uberpool which will be stuck in traffic like other, and will not have access to the pedestrian priority zone shared with transit…)
but if your city council is ripping out your bus routes for whatever reason from bike lane conversion to “plaza making”…then yes certainly the bus will be at disadvantage against a Uber pool solution…
At the end the picture is well chosen: as soon as you get a “sucessfull” transit service, be Bolt or Uberpool, you end up to use public space,, which eventually disrupt other legitimate activities…that need to be regulated…
again, if your transit system is on solid foundation, there is no much to fear…
There should be a mid priced alternative available, for instance when you miss the last bus or skytrain from downtown ( f*king joke dont get me started ) instead of paying 60$ for a cab
FWIW I used an Uber in LA last year to get from car rental drop-off to the airport.
6$ instead of 20$ for the cab