Ride-hailing services may not always increase traffic congestion, study finds

Ride-hailing services, similar Uber and Lyft, are lauded by immoderate for their quality to alteration postulation congestion. Yet, others assertion that ride-hailing services summation postulation congestion. A caller survey by researchers astatine Penn State and Boston University analyzed postulation information from crossed California and recovered that whether ride-hailing services summation oregon alteration postulation congestion depends connected a assortment of factors, including the time of the week and whether the portion antecedently had precocious public-transportation use.

"Urban cities crossed the satellite are grappling with issues related to postulation congestion," said Suvrat Dhanorkar, subordinate prof of proviso concatenation management, Smeal College of Business, Penn State. "Persistent postulation congestion tin person important implications for biology quality, and it tin besides adversely impact commerce and quality productivity by expanding costs associated with substance and mislaid time."

Proponents of ride-hailing assertion that the services trim postulation congestion by providing carpooling opportunities and efficiently matching patrons with drivers, thereby lowering wide automobile use. On the different hand, ride-hailing services whitethorn summation postulation congestion due to the fact that of the convenience of question they provide. This tin pb to greater travel volumes and lengths, which whitethorn summation wide traffic. In addition, users whitethorn crook to ride-hailing services successful lieu of nationalist transportation, specified arsenic buses and metros, which whitethorn further exacerbate postulation congestion.

In its study, the team—which besides included Gordon Burtch, Kelli Questrom Associate Professor successful Management, Boston University—aimed to reconcile these opposing perspectives. Taking vantage of Uber's staggered introduction into assorted geographic markets successful California, the researchers utilized monthly information from astir 10,000 conveyance detector presumption units located crossed California to behaviour a statistical analysis to estimation the interaction of ride-hailing services connected postulation volumes. They focused specifically connected Uber, arsenic the institution is the marketplace person with respect to marketplace valuation and penetration. In fact, by 2016, Uber had entered much than 66 countries and 507 cities worldwide.

Overall, the researchers recovered that Uber's effect connected postulation depends connected assorted contextual factors. For example, the squad recovered immoderate grounds of pooling effects connected weekdays, starring to a alteration successful postulation congestion by astir 0.5%. On weekends, Uber was associated with important crowding effects, expanding postulation congestion by up to 8.5%.

In regions with precocious anterior nationalist proscription use, however, Uber was associated with a higher crowding effect connected weekdays of up to 8.451% and connected weekends of up to 8.841%.

Prior car-sharing behaviors besides importantly impacted the mode patrons utilized Uber, with higher crowding effects connected weekdays of up to 1.152% and connected weekends of up to 3.407% successful regions with debased anterior carpooling use.

Finally, the availability of Uber Black, a premium ride-hailing service that lends itself to exclusivity and little usage rates astir exclusively led to a crowding effect, with increases successful traffic congestion of up to 7.144% connected weekends.

"Despite their promise, popularity and accelerated growth, the transit implications of ride-hailing platforms are not altogether clear," said Dhanorkar. "On the 1 hand, ride-hailing services tin supply postulation reductions by efficiently matching lawsuit request with resources oregon by facilitating car-sharing. But connected the different hand, ride-hailing whitethorn induce other question due to the fact that of accrued convenience and question mode substitution, which whitethorn make crowding. Our study, which to our cognition is the astir broad investigation of Uber's traffic effects, suggests a imaginable mentation for the contradictory grounds successful past enactment that whitethorn beryllium resolved by accounting for heterogeneity."

The results appeared successful a caller contented of the diary Transportation Science.

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More information: Suvrat Dhanorkar et al, The Heterogeneous Effects of P2P Ride-Hailing connected Traffic: Evidence from Uber's Entry successful California, Transportation Science (2021). DOI: 10.1287/trsc.2021.1077