Ride Sharing Services Add to Road Congestion, New Study Finds

Do ridesharing like Uber and others cause traffic jams? A new study conducted in America of industry leaders Uber and Lyft found that these transportation network companies (TNCs) have been exacerbating the challenges of urban transportation since their debut in the US. Those involved in the study said they examined three aspects of the impact of TNCs on urban mobility in the US - traffic congestion, transit drivers and private vehicle ownership to arrive at the conclusion. Although the conclusion might be different in other parts of the world, it is very important that this question be investigated in more detail.

The study was published in Nature Sustainability in an article entitled "The Impact of Transport Network Operators on Urban Mobility". The researchers were from the Singapore Alliance for Research and Technology Center, Department of Urban Research and Planning, MIT, and the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University in China. This study takes into account the two most popular carpooling agencies in the US - Uber and Lyft.

The study looked at mobility trends, socio-demographic change and the entry of TNC into the statistical metropolitan areas and found that these companies increased traffic congestion in terms of both intensity (by 0.9 percent) and duration (by 4.5 percent) and this also resulted in a decrease in the number of passengers in local public transport by 8.9 percent.

Contrary to the vision that TNCs can reduce reliance on private vehicles, the researchers said their study indicates "a negligible role TNCs play" in reducing vehicle ownership. According to the researchers, private vehicle ownership only decreased 1 percent due to TNC surgery.

The study finds that commuters who get easy access to carpooling are less likely to choose greener alternatives such as walking or public transport.

“Our research shows that over time, TNCs have exacerbated urban traffic challenges and road congestion in the US, largely due to the longer duration and, to a minor extent, the increased intensity. With this information, guidelines can then be put in place that can lead to positive changes, ”said Hui Kong of MIT and one of the study's lead authors in an article posted on the MIT website.

Professor Mi Diao of Tongji University said her study could provide transportation planners and policy makers with useful insights into their decisions regarding TNCs. The authors noted some limitations of their metropolitan-level study, saying that more research with microdata could shed enough light to examine the behavioral mechanisms of the TNC effect. "We are still in the early stages of TNCs and it is likely that the way these ridesharing services will work will change dramatically," Hui Kong added in the MIT article.

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