Is Ridesharing Driving Disruption? An Econometric Analysis of Uber's Effects on the New York City Transportation Landscape

Abstract

Over the last decade, technological advances and rapid global digitalization have wholly transformed our economy. The emergence of the sharing economy in particular has shifted consumption patterns and in turn, begun to unseat long-established competitors. This study explores the ways in which ridesharing, an important subset of the sharing economy, has affected the underlying transportation industry. Using a detailed dataset from the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission, I examine the effects of Uber’s growth on yellow cab monthly ridership and revenue in NYC, as well as corresponding taxicab medallion values. I then investigate Uber’s impact on subway and bus ridership, rental car performance, and alcohol-related traffic incidents in New York City. Generated from a series of OLS linear and fixed effects time series regressions, the results in this paper indicate that Uber is associated with a decline in monthly ridership and revenue of NYC yellow cabs, as well as diminishing taxicab medallion values. Further, Uber’s growth is associated with a decrease in monthly subway ridership, but it is not correlated with any trends in the bus or rental car space. Finally, findings suggest that Uber is not associated with any significant declines in alcohol-related traffic incidents in New York City. As a whole, the results of this paper begin to demonstrate the disruptiveness of Uber’s emergence on the surrounding New York City transportation landscape.