Uber Is Eating Up Taxi Rides in New York City But the Big Apple isn't the only area that is undergoing this kind of transportation change.
By Nina Zipkin
Though Uber is often on the receiving end of controversy, it seems that its growth in major markets, particularly in New York, can't be stopped.
The ridesharing service saw an increase of about 3.82 million pickups in Manhattan from May to June of this year, while taxis saw a decline of 3.83 million pickups over the same time, according to a data analysis by FiveThirtyEight.
Uber now carries out 13 percent of all hired rides in New York City, up from 4 percent, according to the analysis.
In New York City, Uber drivers and their vehicles must be registered with the Taxi & Limousine Commission. Uber drivers, however, do not need to purchase one of the city's prized taxi medallions, which are often hundreds of thousands of dollars. Uber's rise in New York has meant that licensed cab drivers no longer have to be hemmed in by the cost of those medallions. The number of medallion drivers licensed to drive cabs in the city is down 2.2 percent from the end of 2014, a TLC spokesperson told FiveThirtyEight.
Read more: Uber Cars Have Overtaken Yellow Taxis in New York City
While Uber has operated in New York City since 2011, the conversation around the ridesharing company has been particularly fraught over the last several months. The summer saw New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio propose and then drop a bill to cap the number of Uber vehicles in the city, while New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer came out in favor of Uber's growth in the city.
As part of the cap legislation getting scuttled, Uber agreed to turn over company data to the city so it could carry out a four-month investigation of the impact of ridesharing services and for-hire vehicles on traffic, pollution and other transportation issues in the five boroughs.
Uber isn't only taking significant strides in New York City. In Portland, Ore., the city's Bureau of Transportation released its own findings this week which saw cab rides fall by 16 percent from May to August, while Uber and Lyft rides increase by 125 percent. On-demand rides made up 60 percent of all rides around Portland at the end of August.
Related: What You Need to Know to Compete With the Surging Sharing Economy
