Thirty-five cents. That’s how much extra it costs society, on average, when a person switches from driving their own car to using ride-hailing companies, according to a new study that adds to mounting research on the toll of Uber and Lyft’s popularity.
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University simulated replacing 100,000 private vehicle trips with ride-hailing trips, and approximated the price of changes in things like air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and traffic deaths. While ride-hailing lowered local air pollution costs, those savings were negated by the impacts of deadheading — the time drivers travel passenger-free to their next pickup. They also found that even a fully electrified ride-hailing fleet would not make up for the congestion and deaths created by the added miles, reports Laura Bliss. Today on CityLab: That Uber or Lyft Trip May Be Worse for the Planet Than Driving Yourself
