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Analysis of 100M Taxi Trips in Chicago Shows Usage Declining 35% per Year
- slowm5 10y agoform my experience, taxis in Chicago are ~1.5x more expensive vs uber. in nyc its the opposite, ubers are ~1.5x more expensive. could partially explain the difference in decline.
- intopieces 10y agoPardon my ignorance, but is there something in the cabbie's contract that restricts her from also being a driver for Uber/Lyft? I assume so; in Japan, this is not the case, because every time I hailed an Uber, at traditional cab driver appeared.
- jandrese 10y agoPresumably it would screw with the Taxi company's dispatch system. Also, the Uber/Lyft rate would generally be less than the posted rate for the Taxi.
- JoshTriplett 10y ago> in Japan, this is not the case, because every time I hailed an Uber, at traditional cab driver appeared. Uber actually has partnerships with some local taxi companies to do exactly that, in cities that treat it as less of a war between the two.
- dajohnson89 10y agoIn DC, you can order a metered taxi via the Uber app.
- gregoryrueda 10y agoSame in Chicago. If the metered taxi takes an inefficient route, Uber legally can not do a fare ajustment. It's nearly impossible to complain to the City of Chicago if it happens, so you end up having to pay whatever the meter displays.
- aianus 10y agoUber in Toronto does not allow you to use a car with taxi livery. Afaict it is Uber's rule, not the taxi company's.
- brianwawok 10y agoChicago has medallions. You as a driver are paying $x per hour to borrow one. Lets call it $5. Would you take a Taxi fare for $20 (- $5 medallion rental = $15 profit), or an Uber fare for $15 (- $5 medallion rental you still owe = $10 profit)... Even if it were legal or within the contract to do so (it may be, I have no idea), it would be a losing prop for a taxi driver to take an uber fare.
- aub3bhat 10y agoErr NYC also has medallions but Uber drivers don't need one. Why would chicago uber drivers need to get one?
- lvh 10y agoGrandparent is not saying that they need to get one; almost the opposite: that it does not make sense for a medallion-owning taxi driver to also drive for Lyft or Uber.
- brianwawok 10y agoYes exactly. That is why a taxi driver would not also drive Uber. It would pay even less per hour than driving Uber in your own car.
- temp246810 10y agoI'll give you the benefit of the doubt and explain. Usually, what Taxi's can do that uber can't is pick up riders who are hailing a cab. That means if I'm walking down the street and see a cab, I can waive it down and it will take me to my destination. I cannot do this with uber - the only way to get an uber car is through the app. This is a subtle distinction but it matters and doesn't begin to get into the arrangements cabs have with hotels, airports, etc. So what OP was saying is that if you're paying for the medallion, to recoup the cost youre incentivized to pick up normal taxi fares and not drive for uber, assuming you can generate the same value.
- 10y ago
- laurieg 10y agoJapan does not have regular uber cars, the uber app just hails regular taxis. Uber did a trial in Fukuoka, Japan but ran into legal issues and had to end it.
- ben1040 10y agoI don't know about cabbie's contracts, but Uber offers this as an option (including in Chicago). https://www.uber.com/chicago-drivers/services/uberCAB/ https://www.uber.com/chicago-drivers/services/uberCAB/ As a customer, I've only done it because I wanted a cab after a concert and didn't want to wait in line -- I walked two blocks and used Uber to hail a cab instead. You pay meter fare plus tip and the whole thing is charged through the app.
- superh3ro 10y agofrom my experience, taxis in Chicago are ~1.5x more expensive vs uber. in nyc its the opposite, ubers are ~1.5x more expensive. could partially explain the difference in decline.
- emidln 10y agoChicago taxis are roughly double the cost of an Uber/Lyft w/o surge pricing IF you're not crossing the city boundary. In my experience, the only time a taxi end up cheaper is if you need a flat rate to the airport during a time when waiting in traffic would get you destroyed by Uber.
- ktRolster 10y agoIsn't it easier to just take the L to the airport in Chicago?
- emidln 10y agoThis largely depends on how much stuff you're taking with you.
- FLGMwt 10y agoAnd time of day, especially w/ bags
- monksy 10y agoThere are ways to carry your bags on the train. Many tourist travelers have no clue and should be punished for it. (I.e. using them to block the aisles during rush hour, blocking areas of the train etc)
- wapz 10y agoThey really shouldn't be punished; they probably don't know better. You can offer friendly advice if you think they're in a bad position.
- ghaff 10y agoIt's still hard with really packed trains. You can not block aisles but they still take up space and it can be difficult to get on and off the train.
- dominotw 10y agoNo suprising. 1. Rude 2. don't have air conditioning 3. Cabbies are chewing gutka and spitting it out the window, I had gutka spit land on my laptop screen in the backseat. 4. they lie about credit card machines not working. 5. they yell at you for not carrying cash 6. Horrible smell, nuff said. 7. Cabbies are always talking on the phone in some foreign language. 8. Create horrible/dangerous situations on the road trying to outsmart each other for a fare . Often yelling obscenities at each other . 9. Playing some foreign music
- 11thEarlOfMar 10y agoBad for taxi drivers, good for tourism. I've done business in both Tokyo and Hong Kong. Historically, a taxi in Tokyo has been ~3x that of the same distance in Hong Kong. When considering where to Holiday, that significant additional expense is a consideration. I'd also be interested, if there is enough sensitivity in the data, to see a correlation between taxi cost and DUIs.
- neuronexmachina 10y agoWhat are some popular cities where Uber/Lyft is unavailable or regulated in a way that makes it difficult to use? It would help me make sure I don't plan any vacations there.
- rdl 10y agoVancouver, BC, Canada. :( I fortunately live close enough that I just drive up there and thus have my car, but otherwise it sucks -- especially since so much of the interesting stuff is in more suburban parts. Austin, TX (recent change)
- s0rce 10y agoCalgary, AB is another one. Felt like going back in time when I visited from the bay area.
- aianus 10y agoBerlin and Germany in general I think.
- dx034 10y agoIt's all of Germany, uber got basically banned by court order. In Berlin they coorporate with a local taxi company, but uber as in other countries cannot exist in Germany.
- kartan 10y ago> It would help me make sure I don't plan any vacations there. Is this your number one priority to visit a city? Cultural offerings, architecture, meeting new people, that are my priorities. Which brands of private transportation by car are available or not is not a worry for myself. As is difficult to picture it by myself, what makes it so important for you that you have or not that brands over other considerations?
- EternalData 10y agoSo, given that the stated goals of ride-sharing startups are to automate their workforce (with Uber basically saying "automation or bust"), I think there's a need to build economic analysis of what this means. In theory, you could correlate data between https://movement.uber.com/cities https://movement.uber.com/cities and this analysis and start building a picture of what it means when a model with less variable costs starts impacting the market.
- ScarZy 10y agoIs encouragement of cycling and/or use of public transport also a factor in this?
- pokemon-trainer 10y agoI wonder if greater availability of scheduling information and commuting apps have contributed? Commuting apps make it easier than ever to use public transportation.
- bpchaps 10y agoFunny, I just started doing similar work with the data a few days ago. It's definitely an interesting dataset that's been fun to play with. From the privacy side of things, and to prove a point, I've been working on de-anonmyizing the data for the past few days by comparing the data against a few other datasets from FOIA and data.cityofchicago.org. It's so far been surprisingly easy to find the plate and driver info. The sort of myopic privacy with these large datasets is pretty shocking. (I don't plan on making the code/results public except to maybe Chicago's own data folk.)
- mrkurt 10y agoChicago is the canonical example of a city with _awful_ taxi service getting hammered by a better product.
- wyager 10y agoI travel all the time, and I have never, ever come across a taxi service in any city that wasn't horrible. That's why it's so frustrating to me when people get on the bandwagon to ban Uber or lyft and say "just take a taxi!"; only someone who hasn't been forced to take a lot of taxis would say something like that.
- jschwartzi 10y agoI used to take taxis, but there's a whole world of difference between not having any idea what a trip will cost or how long you have to wait, and getting an estimate and seeing how many cars are available within a few blocks. I will never use a taxi in cities with Uber.
- coredog64 10y agoI traveled to Dublin on business two years ago and I absolutely loved the Hailo app. I could get a cab, see where the driver was (i.e. wait out of the rain), know how long the wait was going to be and approximately how much the fare would be. I associated my credit card with the app and could pay as well. There was a competitor app (can't recall the name) but most of the drivers said they drove for both. IIRC Hailo took a 10% cut, but all the drivers agreed it was worth it to find fares.
- jschwartzi 10y agoThere's Curb, here in the US, but it's basically useless because it doesn't do the two things I want: give me short wait times, and estimate fares. It gives estimates, but every cabbie I've taken gets angry when I tell them what they are. It sucks.
- adevine 10y ago
- lacampbell 10y agoOne thing I hate about Taxis is the meter. I want a flat price before they get in, but in many countries they kick up a huge fuss or refuse to take you.
- yks 10y agoIn many places they really want to give you a flat price which is about 2x of what would come up with the meter
- lacampbell 10y agoThen I'll haggle. I just want to know upfront. I always feel like I'm being screwed with the meter.
- codeddesign 10y agoPurely from taking the data from this article, I see it next to impossible that ride sharing has anything to do with this when you look at the comparison with New York. It seems to me that there was an upward spike in 2015 and now it's declines back to pre-2013 levels. But there are also unknown factors at play here... - what has the economy been like in the last 5 years for the suburbs? - what are the tourism levels over time - the u.s has had a slight economic growth in the last 5 years; what are the car sales in the same areas? Rising? It seems more like Chicago had a number of downtown events or draw over the course of 1 year, and has now declined. However, the article is basically using the highest spike as the baseline.