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Do transportation network companies decrease or increase congestion?

advances.sciencemag.org

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Re: Do transportation network companies decrease or increase congestion?

#41

Post by [deleted] »

rat9988 wrote: post #37
kenneth wrote: post #27

> The new findings, based on a computer model that simulated the speed of traffic with Uber and Lyft vehicles removed Not sure if that's actually what's going on, but if it is, it's a ridiculous conclusion. Let me rephrase: "Japanese cars are making traffic in the USA worse, based on a computer model that simulated the speed of traffic with Japanese vehicles removed."

A bit unfair, as you neither have read the original paper, nor even given the benefit of the doubt to the possible deep meaning of "computer model that simulated". It's not like academia is this stupid or peer reviewed papers are that low quality. There is a link in the article to the original paper, here is if you want to investigate more: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/5/eaau2670 Material and methods cha…

[deleted]

Re: Do transportation network companies decrease or increase congestion?

#42

Post by bsder »

Presumably this is the standard problem with Uber/Lyft:

Uber/Lyft make the vast majority of their income in areas that are already well-served by taxis. Consequently, they make the problem worse.

Presumably, in the cities not well-served by taxis, they improve the situation. However, they don't generate anywhere near the income.

Re: Do transportation network companies decrease or increase congestion?

#43

Post by baby »

I live in San Francisco. Public transport is a joke. Buses are so dangerous that I won't take them (took them twice when I moved here and almost got beaten up the first time, witnessed someone getting mugged the second time (near tartine)).

I went from exclusively using public transport (previously living in UK/France) to exclusively taking uber/lyft. Thanks humanity my work provides shuttle to do the commute to south bay, I would never be able to do that with the caltrain. Mad respect to those who have to do it.

You can probably tell I'm salty about the state of things here. As a matter of fact I just passed my driving writting exam today because for the first time of my life I feel like I need a car.

Re: Do transportation network companies decrease or increase congestion?

#44

Post by matt4077 »

ProfessorLayton wrote: post #25
rdiddly wrote: post #2

Obviously. They are making it worse by exactly the number of trips that would otherwise have been done by transit, bike, walking or not at all. edit: or now scooters

Funny you say that because most of my Uber/Lyfts consist of me going to and from public transit for my intended destination. Although it is more complicated than that, as I often take a shared ride home because Bart shuts down too early on weekends to be useful on the way back. Additionally the math gets complicated when I have multiple people with me, as often times it's cheaper to uber/lyft somewhere to our destina…

This is called multimodal transport. I'm unsure how big the effect is for Uber/Lyft where booking the ride would seem slightly more involved than, say, using a bike. But it's an area of great interest especially for public transit planners.

Re: Do transportation network companies decrease or increase congestion?

#45

Post by bsder »

no_username wrote: post #38
_jal wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, no. Japanese cars are not otherwise distinguishable by their frequent mid-block stop-and-wait actions, for instance, nor for diverting commuters from public transportation.

If you remove any amount of cars you improve traffic which is why the conclusion is weak.

The problem is that in SF those people were already using taxis in a lot of cases but people were limited by price. By making taking a taxi cheaper, you are practically guaranteed to increase the number of cars in flight at any one time.

Re: Do transportation network companies decrease or increase congestion?

#47

Post by aeternus »

danans wrote: post #11

> Uber and Lyft have long said their services may relieve urban congestion by facilitating access to public transit This was always questionable for a place like SF or any high density city. Few people take a ride share to get to a bus or a MUNI light rail stop in SF. If you are paying for the Uber/Lyft, why would you pay again for a bus ticket, especially given the inconvenience of then waiting for the bus. You'll j…

Many people at my company take Uber/Lyft to get to BART and Caltrain.

Re: Do transportation network companies decrease or increase congestion?

#48

Post by unreal37 »

the_economist wrote: post #22
unreal37 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, you take that number, PLUS the number of empty Uber cars, PLUS the number of empty taxis that would not have been empty if there wasn't Uber...

Empty taxis drive around looking for a fare. Empty ubers park and wait.

They're empty sometimes. Even if they park at some spot.

Re: Do transportation network companies decrease or increase congestion?

#50

Post by Lammy »

baby wrote: post #43

I live in San Francisco. Public transport is a joke. Buses are so dangerous that I won't take them (took them twice when I moved here and almost got beaten up the first time, witnessed someone getting mugged the second time (near tartine)). I went from exclusively using public transport (previously living in UK/France) to exclusively taking uber/lyft. Thanks humanity my work provides shuttle to do the commute to sout…

I feel just as safe on Muni as I have on the handful of other American transit systems I've lived near. Feel free to read that either way :)

Polls have been pretty constant at least https://www.sfmta.com/reports/customer-rating-feeling-safe-a...

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