Evidence of Ridesourcing Increasingly Being Used for Commuting in New York City’s Low-Income Communities

Ridesourcing services such as Uber and Lyft have seen a large growth in New York City’s outer boroughs. As an on-demand service, ridesourcing has potential to fill gaps in areas where service by public transit is poor and residents also have limited access to personal automobiles. New York City requires ridesourcing services to report trip origin and destination information to its Taxi and Limousine Commission which then makes these data publicly available. Analysis of trip data shows a shift in usage patterns between 2015 and 2018 and distinct time-of-day and day-of-the-week patterns for different types of neighborhoods in the study area in 2018. Outer borough neighborhoods show heavier usage patterns during the morning and afternoon commuting times than their Manhattan neighbors. GIS-based analysis also shows a strong “distance decay” effect with the highest percentage of trips localized within the same taxi zone and tapering off sharply in farther zones. The results point to ridesourcing increasingly being used for commuting in low-income minority neighborhoods. If this essential travel is being relegated to ridesourcing services because of a lack of other viable options, this becomes a transportation equity issue as private ridesourcing companies are largely unregulated and currently functioning with unsustainable pricing structures. With the use of these services still evolving, changes in service could disproportionately negatively affect these already underserved communities.

• Record URL:
  https://annualmeeting.mytrb.org/OnlineProgram/Details/15688
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AME10 Standing Committee on Equity in Transportation.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Maher, Anaka
  • Atkinson-Palombo, Carol
  • Garrick, Norman
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 100th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2021-1-5 to 2021-1-29
• Date: 2021

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 19p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Commuting; Equity; Low income groups; Ridesourcing; Shared mobility
• Geographic Terms: New York (New York)
• Subject Areas: Passenger Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01763843
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: TRBAM-21-03958
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 4 2021 10:57AM