All aboard! New report finds that ridesharing complements public transit
By Andrew Salzberg, Mobility Policy Lead
Here at Uber, we’ve always believed that ridesharing is an important complement to public transportation. We’ve seen how riders are using Uber to travel the last mile between their homes and the nearest transit station and we’ve partnered with third party app developers and transit agencies to make those connections more seamless.
Today, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) released an independent study that supports this emerging consensus. Researchers conducted a series of in-depth interviews with transportation officials and riders. Here’s what they found:
The more people use ridesharing services like Uber, the more likely they are to use public transit.
A survey of 4,500 people across the US confirms that people who routinely use “shared modes” of transportation (e.g. bikesharing, carsharing, and ridesharing) were more likely to use public transit. These individuals were less likely to drive, more likely to walk, and saved more on overall transportation costs.
The report also found that people who use ride-sharing in conjunction with mass transit are more likely to forgo car ownership. By literally picking up where public transportation drops off, Uber helps give people the benefits of car ownership without the hassle or expense.
Ridesharing complements public transit, enhancing urban mobility.
Far from displacing public transit, apps like Uber actually extend the reach of our public transport systems.
Ridesharing can fill in gaps in our transit systems. For example, riders take Uber most frequently between 10pm and 4am — when public transit runs less frequently or is unavailable. Uber provides a late night option for commuters who work odd hours, and an easy alternative to driving and drinking.
Uber sees this trend in our own data, too. Take a look at when people around the world are most likely to request a trip on Friday.
Ridesharing is here to stay — governments and transit authorities should work with the ridesharing industry to help more Americans get around.
The findings show that that transit operators believe services like Uber complement public transit and the overwhelming majority are looking for more ways to collaborate. We share their enthusiasm. Recently, Uber has been developing partnerships with transit agencies across the country. In Pinellas Park, Florida, we are working with the PSTA to make first and last mile connections affordable and convenient. Working with TransLoc, we’re enabling transit riders around the country to plan journeys from start-to-finish on their phones. With Caltrain, we helped manage surges in ridership by extending uberPOOL service to transit stations during major events. We look forward to accelerating these partnerships in the coming months.
Public and private operators can dramatically expand paratransit availability with technology and collaboration.
Paratransit services — subsidized door-to-door service for people with disabilities — have played a critical role in increasing mobility for these groups. The study found that ridesharing services like Uber can work with transit agencies to develop technology solutions that increase the efficiency, convenience, and cost of paratransit services — improving the overall experience for riders and reducing transit agencies’ operational costs.
This report confirms what we’ve always believed: ride-sharing and public transportation can be two pieces of a larger seamless system. After all, we share the same goal: cities that are less congested, less polluted, and less dependent on cars. Just like transit systems, we have Uber teams in cities and states across the country figuring out the best ways to serve their communities. Together, I’m excited to see what we can come up with.
