What do Brits really think about ride-sharing companies?
As part of a global survey, we asked our British users what they really think about companies like Uber and Lyft — and how they treat their drivers.
The black cab, driven by a cabbie armed with ‘the Knowledge’, is a British institution — and one that’s been totally disrupted by Silicon Valley challengers.
Ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft offer the opportunity to book services with ease via their apps, while there’s no more fumbling for change either, as payment is taken automatically. And in general, these services are cheaper than the old-fashioned black cab or minicab.
However, this hasn’t come about without a few bumps on the road. Drivers are frequently treated by ride-sharing companies as self-employed, rather than full employees, which means they may not receive holiday or sickness entitlements, or a minimum wage. In the UK, Uber is currently contesting an employment tribunal finding that says its drivers should be treated as company workers.
So we wanted to know — what do our users, or bees, think about all this? We asked over 8,000 worldwide for their thoughts.
App, app and away
Looking at the results in the UK, there’s good news for ride-sharing companies — their services are wildly popular.
95% of Brits say they will consider using ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft in the future. The main reasons? The services are seen as cheaper (67% agree), more convenient (58%) and faster (51%) to pre-existing alternatives.
That means that 3 in 4 Brits have used a ride-sharing service at least once, while 1 in 3 say they travel in one at least once a week. And the services are seen as secure, too: most Brits (75%) say they feel safe traveling in a ride-share service, though men (80%) feel safer overall than women (70%).
Put it all together and it means one thing: over 3 in 4 Brits (77%) think that ride-sharing apps benefit society as a whole.
Union City Blues
However, there’s a downside to this convenience, and it comes down to how the drivers at these companies are perceived to be employed.
Overall, most Brits think ride-share companies should provide their drivers with benefits that they don’t receive at present — like vehicle insurance (75%), paid sick leave (68%) and paid holidays (66%). That’s even though Brits are more likely to see ride-share drivers as self-employed (58%) than company employees (40%).
As a result, only 44% think drivers are treated fairly by their companies, while only 51% of Brits believe that ride-share firms are run in an ethical way. While that’s over 1 in 2, on the flip-side it’s still quite damning that almost half of the public doesn’t think these companies are playing fair.
Ultimately, that means that working for one of them isn’t particularly attractive. While we found that over half (54%) of Brits see working as a ride-share driver as a good career, only 37% would ever consider it for themselves.
Taken for a ride?
So what does this all mean?
Clearly, there’s a contradiction here — as a public, we aren’t convinced that ride-sharing companies are really on the level in terms of how they treat their drivers or — depending on your point of view — their independent contractors.
However, we also think that the upgrade in service we receive is enough to look past this moral issue. Or in other words, the actual upside on offer from these companies in terms of price and convenience offsets any downside to society from the driver’s employment conditions.
So where do we draw the line? If rideshare services were to become more expensive or less convenient — or if it were clear-cut that drivers aren’t being treated fairly — would we use them less? Or, perhaps more interestingly, if one rideshare company were to take the lead on offering benefits to its workers, would that give it a competitive edge amongst consumers? Maybe one of them will one day take the plunge and find out…
Extra findings from around the world:
- In China and India, 91% have used a taxi app and almost 1 in 2 (47%) of those surveyed book a ride at least once a week
- Chinese and Indian passengers are more likely to feel safe (81%) and more likely to believe drivers are treated fairly (72%) than UK users
- Around the world, Generation Z (under-25s) are most likely to be frequent ride-share users — 31% book a journey at least once a week, compared to 28% of 25–35s and 22% of over-35s
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A quick word on our methodology:
The figures in the article were taken in Q3 2018 from over 8,000 people in the UK, US, India, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, South Africa and Spain.
All of the data was collected by mobile and web surveys, and is accurate to within 6 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
