What seemed inevitable for quite some time now, has finally come to pass; Uber has overtaken yellow cabs in average daily ridership figures, the New York Times reports. This past July, Uber witnessed an average of 289,000 rides per day, whereas yellow cabs only managed 277,000.
A large part of this recent surge has been Uber’s (and other ride-sharing app’s) new focus on the outer boroughs, particularly in areas that have little to no access to public transport. Now, more than half of Uber’s rides (not including pickups from LaGuardia or JFK Airport) start from outside Manhattan.
Uber is usually guarded about its ridership data but shared a bunch of it with the Times, particularly pertaining to 50 sample residential areas in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island, which saw increased ridership. From that data, the Times gleaned that more than half of these sample areas with increased pickup were in Queens.
For example, In St. Albans, Queens weekly pickups increased from 1,870 in August last year to 6,370 this year. In Flatlands, Brooklyn weekly pickups increased from 3,598 last year to 13,380 this year, over the same timeframe. Overall, these 50 sample areas saw increased weekly rides from 56,721 in August last year to 167,194 this year.
There is a dearth of yellow cabs or green cabs in these areas, and ride-sharing apps, particularly Uber, have capitalized. But increased ridership can’t just be attributed to ride-share drivers making stops in transit-starved neighborhoods. Uber and other ride-sharing services have made huge investments in the outer boroughs. Uber has closed its driver support and recruitment center in Manhattan, and opened ones in all the other boroughs.
In addition, residents in the outer boroughs have access to a host of promotions including free rides, $5 car pools within the same boroughs, and in some instances, free pizza.
Uber has come as a boon for drivers as well, particularly immigrants who don’t have access to many good jobs, according to the Times. Uber’s data showed that about 2,000 drivers came through the car service’s Bronx center every week.
Then there is the fact that Uber and other ride-sharing services benefit from the vast number of vehicles. Yellow cabs are limited to 13,587, but Uber has access to 61,000 black cars.
Despite Uber’s recent scandal-plagued history, most riders and drivers the Times interviewed seemed unperturbed. They placed a greater emphasis on having relatively easy access to cheap transportation, especially when public transport had failed them. Already, competition from ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft has put taxi medallion values at its lowest this century, and things likely won’t get better for yellow cabs.
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