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New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

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Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#101

Post by smsm42 »

justboxing wrote: post #31
yardie wrote: post #18

I’m a big proponent of mass transit and when it’s available I use it if I can. But I can get Lyft door to door for just $1-2 more than a bus or train. If mass transit wants to keep with rideshare and livery they need to: expand routes, increase availability, update their equipment. When I was a kid I knew how to read a bus schedule and train map to plan my trip. Now, there is an entire generation of kids in school an…

> expand routes, increase availability, update their equipment. ... and be faster . The SFMTA in San Francisco , at an average travel speed of 5 miles / hour. Is only slightly faster than brisk walking. Also, from the downtown FiDi out 2 miles in every direction, the Bus has a bus stop at Every block. Yes, every block.

This is a basic contradiction which I am not sure is solvable. If the stops are too far away, you (or somebody for whom walking is harder, like older people, less physically fit people, etc.) won't be able to use it. If stops are too close, getting through them takes a lot of time. I know there is a body of work that tries to find optimal setup for such cases, but I'm not sure it's possible to make everybody happy here. If you want good coverage, you'd have to sacrifice speed, the bus can't go everywhere and be fast at the same time, at least not within a single mode of transportation.

In SF, this is made worse by the people's behavior. There is a dedicated line for the buses, but cars routinely drive on it to turn, get in/out parking or just feeling they can outsmart everybody by doing so. So in fact, the bus stops not once but 3-4 times per block to deal with these. And then there are traffic lights of course. And yes, as a result it's not too much faster than walking (though somewhat more relaxing, if you get a seat :)

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#102

Post by hyperbovine »

criddell wrote: post #50
acdha wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both services are subsidizing their rides significantly, so while I think transit does need to work on improvements it’s important to remember that the comparison is currently unfair and will change when investors start looking for profits.

You don't think the public transportation systems are subsidized?

Wha? You're putting words in his/her mouth for the sake of appearing arch. Public transit is subsidized and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, because that's what the owners (the public) want. Far less clear is how many more unicorns the owners of Lyft and Uber are willing to toss into the furnace before they starting wanting to see some actual ROI. Anecdotally, both services have gotten way more expensive in my area recently.

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#103

Post by throwawaybbqed »

mycodebreaks wrote: post #98

Transit systems in the US need some payment technology upgrade. On a couple of occasions, I haven't been able to board a bus due to not having exact change. Once, I was with kids & family visiting NYC. We were planning to take a public bus from a suburb to the city. The fare turned out to be $16 for all of us, but I had $11 and some $100 bills. Guess what, I couldn't board the bus as they can't return change. The bus…

I have had the same issue in the past in the Bay area. I finally got a clipper card a few weeks ago (I live in MV typically walk to work). Yesterday, I was in front of a VTA in San Jose trying to get back to MV. The people around were a bit shady, and there was a pretty long wait for the train - of course .. I called an Uber, which cost a few bucks more. Still waiting to use that clipper card.

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#104

Post by hyperbovine »

yardie wrote: post #60
acdha wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both services are subsidizing their rides significantly, so while I think transit does need to work on improvements it’s important to remember that the comparison is currently unfair and will change when investors start looking for profits.

Mass transit is already subsidized and yet they are unable to make it work. Only one is subsidizing to gain ridership. As I’ve told friends and family it’s still cheaper than owning a car. If that equation changes I’ll re-evaluate our habits.

Mass transit works amazingly well in Europe, particularly in the north.

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#105

Post by cozzyd »

mycodebreaks wrote: post #98

Transit systems in the US need some payment technology upgrade. On a couple of occasions, I haven't been able to board a bus due to not having exact change. Once, I was with kids & family visiting NYC. We were planning to take a public bus from a suburb to the city. The fare turned out to be $16 for all of us, but I had $11 and some $100 bills. Guess what, I couldn't board the bus as they can't return change. The bus…

CTA accepts NFC / contactless credit cards as payment for buses

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#106

Post by Noumenon72 »

thisisit wrote: post #67
tmh79 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is not true

Which part? The cost of rides being subsidized or people eschewing mass transit in favor of these ride sharing apps or was it the insinuation that people are eschewing mass transit because it is cheaper or more convenient for the price? Cost of ride: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/9a3vye/uber-true-... 2nd point is the highlight of the linked article. 3rd point has been made repeatedly in this very thread.

It was nice of you to provide sources even when challenged by such a low-effort comment.

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#107

Post by abalone »

tl;dr

People use ridesharing mostly to go out to eat and drink (62% of trips).

Riders are actually more likely to own cars. They don't want to drive when they're going out because they don't want to deal with parking or drive drunk. They don't ride the bus because it's too slow, unreliable or unavailable.

If ridesharing didn't exist, two fifths of the time they'd walk, bike or use public transit instead, and a fifth of the trips just wouldn't happen. While ridesharing supports pooling, it also wastes "deadhead" passengerless miles between fares. As a result, ridesharing actually increases total vehicle miles traveled.

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#108

Post by aninhumer »

DrScump wrote: post #73
brianwawok wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. A faster / better / cheaper train or bus takes cars directly off the road. So you can add more subways / trains / buses / etc. to do this.

Adding more units, where existing units are underutilized , makes no sense.

Not necessarily. Service frequency is a pretty significant factor influencing people's decision whether to use public transport.

A lot more people will start using a service if it's frequent enough that they don't need to plan around it.

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#109

Post by jdavis703 »

smsm42 wrote: post #84
WisNorCan wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than in mathematics (broadly interpreted), there is no definitive proof. There are just different degrees of confidence. Even though Uber has been saying that they are improving urban transportation, I have always been skeptical. As new substitutes are introduced to mass transit - mass transit use should decline. If those new substitutes are heavily subsidized by VCs, mass transit will decline more.

> Even though Uber has been saying that they are improving urban transportation Note here that there are other dimensions of improving, not expressed in VMT. Such as convenience, availability, time to get to certain point, ability to perform certain tasks (e.g. compare traveling with two huge suitcases to/from an airport in public transport with two transfers and in a ride service car), etc. So when talking about imp…

Personal convenience isn't the only definition of what makes transportation better. There's all kinds of negative externalities automobiles generate, from traffic backups, to gaseous emissions, to taking up space that could be used by transportation modes with lighter footprints such as bikes. Not increasing VMT is very important to making cities perform more efficiently, with a lighter footprint.

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#110

Post by pmichaud »

ng12 wrote: post #6

Gee, it's almost like people only use public transportation when it's reliable, cost-effective, and efficient.

I stopped using the BART recently because it's dangerous. Several people I know personally have been held up at gunpoint on the BART, or in the station. That's not counting the various news reports, like one [1]. I'll go back when it's safe, but not before then.

[1]: http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/BART-takeover-robbery-50...

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