Uber headache: Rideshare leads to more urban transport challenges

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-02-02 03:00

International

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Traffic backs up and public transport use drops by 9 per cent after a rideshare company starts operating in a US city, new research finds. It also affects the length of time roads stay congested more than the intensity of the traffic, probably due to dynamic pricing by the companies. Vehicle ownership also hasn’t declined since rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft started operating a decade ago. Impacts on congestion and public transport use often increase when another company starts operating in the same city.

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Research Springer Nature, Web page

Journal/
conference: Nature Sustainability

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Funder: The research is supported by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore, under the CREATE programme, the Singapore–MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) Centre and the Future Urban Mobility Interdisciplinary Research Group.

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