One of the claims made by ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft is being challenged by a new report, which suggests that they make congestion worse, not better …
Ride-sharing services argue that if people can get a ride when they need one, they are less likely to own a car, reducing the number of cars on the road and leading to less traffic.
However, the Washington Post says a new report has suggested that this isn’t what happens in reality, and that pool services like UberPool and Lyft Line are making things even worse.
Instead of replacing private car journeys, says the report, they are replacing more environmentally sustainable forms of transport.
Indeed, looking at nine urban areas over a six-year period, the report concludes that ride-sharing has created a total of 5.7 billion extra vehicle miles.
Uber and Lyft disagree, naturally. Uber claims its service saved 315M vehicles miles, while Lyft claims more than a quarter of a million of its own customers gave up their own cars as a result of using the service.
Photo: AP
