It's not entirely clear yet what long-term effect ridesharing will have on city traffic [1] and cities are very invested in keeping that low. Buses and trains

It's not entirely clear yet what long-term effect ridesharing will have on city traffic [1] and cities are very invested in keeping that low. Buses and trains and such keep that traffic lower, at least according to current data. Of course, if ridesharing proves itself to reduce traffic, I wouldn't be surprised to find cities experimenting with public-private partnerships to implement them locally. We have something very successful in DC called Capital Bikeshare that is focused largely on reducing traffic. But, unlike bikesharing, if Uber and kin prove out ridesharing as valuable to DC, I cannot see what the local government would add with their own system, something that I know the DC government does consider. Capital Bikeshare is so successful precisely because the government is involved. They can convert a couple street parking spaces or a traffic intersection median into a bikeshare without asking anyone, and have done so with no real complaint. [1] http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/is-uber-making-nyc-rush-hour-traffic-worse/ http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/is-uber-making-nyc-rush-... [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_Bikeshare https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_Bikeshare