Study Finds UberPOOL Adds to City Traffic by Competing with the Subway

Studies have shown ride hailing services add to traffic, but a new data from transport consultant Bruce Schaller goes further showing that even shared rides are adding to traffic. "Pooled ride services have lured a different market that directly competes with subway and bus systems, while failing to achieve significantly better efficiency than their solo alternatives. The result: more driving overall," Faiz Siddiqui reports for The Washington Post.

Ride share companies have long argued that they're getting cars off the roads, because their customers forgo their cars and take the occasional Lyft or Uber instead, but research has shown that isn't the case. In fact, Uber drivers end up spending more time on the road than private car owners, because they spend time driving between rides or cruising, waiting for a ride to appear. "Deadheading" between rides accounts for about half of the miles driven in these services.

Analysts believe ride share miles will continue to increase. "Ride sharing has added 5.7 billion vehicle miles to nine major urban areas over six years, the report says, and the trend is “likely to intensify” as the popularity of the services surges," Siddiqui writes.