The Percent of Americans Using Ride Hailing Services is Going Up…Fast

The percent of Americans using ride-hailing services has more than doubled since 2015. "Today, 36% of U.S. adults say they have ever used a ride-hailing service such as Uber or Lyft, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in fall 2018," Jingjing Jiang writes for Pew Research, in 2015 that number was 15%. This increased adoption has major implication for cities, research has shown that ride hailing increases traffic, has been part of the decline in transit ridership, and is associated with an increase in traffic fatalities.

"Even as the share of Americans who use ride-hailing has grown substantially in recent years, the new survey finds that few adults overall are making these services a part of their regular routine," Jiang writes. So while the service is getting more widespread use, many of those users do not take the service weekly. The survey also found that urban and suburban Americans were much more likely to use the service than people living in rural areas. The service was also more used among wealthier and younger Americans.