Ride-Hailing's Climate Risks: Steering a Growing Industry Toward a Clean Transportation Future
Abstract
Ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft have experienced exponential growth in a short period of time. The expansion of these services is changing transportation, but that rapid growth also comes with significant risks. There’s very little policy in place governing the use of ride-hailing services or its related pollution, and limited research into their current impact on carbon emissions. Analysis of publicly available data from seven US metropolitan areas as well as from other published research finds that ride-hailing trips are producing nearly 70 percent greater emissions compared to the trips they are replacing. This dramatic increase in emissions occurs even though a typical ride-hailing vehicle is more efficient than the average car. Increased emissions come in part from “deadheading,” the increased miles a driver travels waiting for a ride request or picking up a passenger. In addition, ride-hailing is especially popular in dense urban areas, where mass transit, walking, and biking are generally more heavily used for transportation, and all three travel modes on average produce fewer—or even zero—carbon emissions. However, analysis shows climate benefits occur when ride-hailing vehicles are electric and pooling is increased. The combination of electric vehicles and pooled trips has the greatest positive impact on emissions; an electric, pooled ride-hailing trip can cut emissions by 69 percent compared with a private vehicle trip in the average car, or about 79 percent compared with a non-pooled ride-hailing ride.
Despite these benefits, only a small share of trips are pooled and there are very few EVs in ridesharing fleets today. Ride-hailing has increased mobility options and has the potential to contributing to a low carbon transportation system where households rely less on car travel alone and instead utilize a range of lower carbon, multimodal options. The study points to steps ride-hailing companies can take to be part of a cleaner, more sustainable transportation future, such doing more to incentivize electric vehicles for their drivers, shared rides for their passengers, and complementing mass transit. It also includes discussion of action policymakers can take—and in some cases are already taking—to ensure low carbon travel options are available and to make sure companies act responsibly.
Ride-Hailing's Climate Risks: Steering a Growing Industry Toward a Clean Transportation Future
Category
New Mobility Services
Description
Presenter: Elizabeth Irvin
Agency Affiliation: Union of Concerned Scientists
Session: Technical Session C4: Shaping Future Mobility
Date: 6/2/2022, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Presenter Biographical Statement: Elizabeth Irvin is a senior transportation analyst in the Clean Transportation program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. In her role, she analyzes and advocates for actions that governments, companies, and individuals can take to make transportation more sustainable and equitable. She has particular expertise in assessing how emerging transportation technologies and business models, such as automated vehicles, ride hailing, and scooters, as well as pricing policies and innovations in public transit are affecting how people get around in urban areas.
Elizabeth began her career at UCS as an outreach associate, mobilizing consumers, scientists and engineers to support stronger fuel economy standards, and increasing awareness of hybrid and electric vehicles. Prior to returning to UCS, Elizabeth worked as a transportation planner at Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning during the development of the region’s long-range plan through the year 2050, analyzing trends in how people move around the Chicago region, evaluating impacts of proposed transportation investments, and preparing for a future affected by emerging transportation technologies. She then worked as transportation director at the Center for Neighborhood Technology, where she focused on analyzing the ways transportation policies, transit, and emerging technologies like ride hailing and electric scooters can reduce or exacerbate unequal access to employment, affordable housing, and other everyday needs.