MIT Study Discovers Ride-Sharing Increases Traffic In Cities

Ride-sharing is something that many use for convenience and to help reduce traffic on the roads. Services like Uber and others have been touted as being more environmentally friendly than using a taxi or a private vehicle. Recently, researchers at the Future Urban Mobility Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG) at Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT, and Tongji University conducted a study to find out if ride-sharing was better for the environment and traffic.

The first-of-it's-kind study looked at three aspects of how ride-sharing services impact mobility in urban areas of the US. Those three areas included road congestion, public transport ridership, and private vehicle ownership. Researchers used a panel data set covering mobility trends, socio-demographic changes, and ride-sharing in metropolitan statistical areas to find a set of fix-effect panel models.

In the study, the researchers found that the entry of ride-sharing companies into an area led to increased road congestion in terms of intensity and duration. Traffic congestion increased by almost 1 percent, while the duration of traffic congestion rose by 4.5 percent. Researchers also found that in areas with ride-sharing companies, the use of public transportation dropped by 8.9 percent.

Researchers also found an insignificant decrease of only one percent for private vehicle ownership in areas with ride-sharing companies. The study took into account both Uber and Lyft, which of the two most popular ride-sharing companies in the US. Currently, Uber has 69 percent of the market while Lyft has 29 percent of the market.

The study also showed that access to ride-sharing discouraged commuters from taking greener alternatives like walking or public transportation. Another interesting statistic from the study found that over half of ride-sharing trips would've otherwise been made by walking, cycling, public transport, or wouldn't have been made at all. The researchers believe that substantial numbers of miles traveled by ride-sharing vehicles without a passenger inside contributes to road congestion. Estimates are that over 40 percent of ride-sharing miles driven are done without a passenger aboard.