A Philadelphia ride-share story: An Investigation of ride-share’s impact on transit

The purpose of this doctoral dissertation is to understand the impact of transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft on public transit usage and travel behavior in the Philadelphia region. The study area encompasses a five-county region in southeastern Pennsylvania, including Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties. As the poorest big city in the United States with an extensive public transit network, Philadelphia is the population and employment center of the region. However, there have been few studies examining the role of the increasingly popular ride-hail services, as well as their impact on the transportation system, in both the city and the region. This study aims to answer three interrelated questions: (1) Have UberX and Lyft increased or lowered transit ridership in the Philadelphia urbanized area? To what extent are they a complement to or substitute for transit? (2) Who uses UberX and Lyft in the Philadelphia urbanized area and why? (3) What factors contribute to the individual substitution between transit and ride-hail services in the Philadelphia urbanized area?

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $59415
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747135

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Department of Transportation

  Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  Department of Transportation
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Stearns, Amy

• Performing Organizations:

  Cooperative Mobility for Competitive Megaregions (CM2)

  University of Texas at Austin
  Austin, TX  United States  78712
• Principal Investigators:

  Guerra, Erick

• Start Date: 20190901
• Expected Completion Date: 20200831
• Actual Completion Date: 20200930
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Demand responsive transportation; Impacts; Public transit; Ridership; Travel behavior; Urban areas
• Identifier Terms: Lyft; Uber
• Geographic Terms: Philadelphia (Pennsylvania)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01705866
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Cooperative Mobility for Competitive Megaregions (CM2)
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747135
• Files: UTC, RiP
• Created Date: May 24 2019 1:48PM