Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about Uber

Photos: Eric Allix Rogers, Human Transit

Why Toronto Should Follow Chicago’s Lead and Tax Ride-Share to Fund Transit

By John Greenfield | Jan 29, 2018 | 4 Comments

Toronto is considering passing a fee on Uber and Lyft to fund the TTC. John appeared on Toronto public radio this morning to explain why Chicago passed such a tax.

A new study, and CTA officials, say ride-share has been cannibalizing transit ridership. Photo: Filip Frącz

Why Taxing Ride Share to Fund the CTA Makes Sense

By John Greenfield | Oct 26, 2017 | 16 Comments

It could help level the playing field and stop recent transit ridership bleeding.

If cities don't act decisively to prioritize bus and rail service, more riders will switch to ride-hailing in a vicious cycle of increasing traffic and declining transit quality. Photo: Oran Viriyincy/Flickr

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Uber and Lyft Are Cannibalizing Transit in Major American Cities

By Angie Schmitt | Oct 13, 2017

New research from UC Davis shows that cities must strengthen transit in response to the growth of ride-hailing services.

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Get Ready for Uber’s “Flying Cars” Conference to Generate Lots of Dumb Headlines

By Stephen Miller | Apr 25, 2017

Whizzing above the city may sound appealing in a Jetsons sort of way, but Uber's thinking on this technology is completely untethered from its impact on the cities and towns below, where the people are.

Would sharing for-hire trips cut traffic or lead more people to hire cars to get around? Photo: Ad Meskins, Creative Commons license.

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No, Giant Shared Ubers Aren’t About to Solve City Traffic Problems

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 6, 2017

MIT researchers got a ton of press for a mathematical model that showed sharing for-hire vehicles could replace 85 percent of New York City's taxi fleet. But their conclusions were built on shaky assumptions, says economist Joe Cortright.

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No, Uber’s Not Going to Replace Buses, But It Can Complement Them

By Angie Schmitt | Sep 9, 2016

Not a day goes by without a raft of stories about “new mobility” providers — ride-hailing companies like Uber or car-share services like Car2Go that have tapped into recent technological advances to provide new ways to get around. In a new report, “Private Mobility, Public Interest” [PDF], TransitCenter deflates some of the hype surrounding these services while laying out […]

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Study: Uber Reduces Drunk Driving Deaths

By Angie Schmitt | Aug 13, 2015

There’s an unexpected upside to the introduction of Uber into more and more U.S. cities, according to a study published earlier this year: the service helps reduce drunk driving fatalities. The entry of Uber X — driving services offered by people using private vehicles — into a new city decreased drunk driving deaths by an average […]

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Talking Headways Podcast: Uber and the Case of the Hidden Gas Tax

By Tanya Snyder | Nov 11, 2014

Uber is celebrating. DC passed an Uber-legalization law that Uber thinks cities the world over should follow. The problem is, most cities have much more tightly regulated taxi industries than DC, with a far higher cost of entry. In those cases, letting Uber get away with providing taxi services while complying with none of the […]

Single, Universal Taxi App Could Level Playing Field

By Steven Vance | Nov 4, 2014 | 71 Comments

The City of Chicago wants to set up a centralized, online taxi dispatching system that would accept anyone’s request for a cab. This new tool could let the local taxi industry catch up to the user-responsiveness of increasingly popular taxi alternatives like Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar. Those companies’ easy-to-use apps, and sometimes lower fares, are […]

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UberFAMILY: Finally, a Taxi Option for People With Kids

By Tanya Snyder | Jul 14, 2014

Childless people, let me let you in on a little secret: Car seats are a huge pain in the ass. They’re no big deal if you own a car, I guess, except for the fact that your kid probably squawks at the prospect of being immobilized in that iron maiden too long. For car-free parents, […]

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