CHICAGO — Uber and Lyft aren’t enemies but potential allies for Chicago’s public transit system.
That’s the finding of researchers at DePaul University in Chicago.
The nation’s third-largest city should follow the lead of Los Angeles and Dallas to make it easier for their passengers to combine transit with ridesharing services, concludes the study by the Chaddick Institute of Metropolitan Development.
This recommendation comes as the Chicago Transit Authority was forced to raise rates 25 percent earlier this year because of a loss in ridership to companies like Uber and Lyft. The transit service is used by more than 26 percent of the city’s workers. The CTA could attract new riders by working with ridesharing providers to allow consumers to mix different travel options, says Joseph Schwieterman, director of the institute and a professor in the School of Public Service.
“Right now, they must choose one or the other, and many default to ridesharing, particularly when transit involves long walks and late-night transfers,” Schwieterman said in a statement.
Ridership will continue to decline if the transit authority doesn’t try to foster a more symbiotic relationship with its private sector competition, the study reports.
Although CTA will always be the cheapest option, it isn’t always the most convenient way to travel throughout Chicago and the 35 suburbs it serves. Uber and Lyft’s ridesharing service is more likely to be used between the neighborhoods to avoid longer waits for public transit.
“Above all else, we find that transit and ridesharing serve different roles, with each adding something different to the mobility equation,” said Chaddick Institute researcher Mallory Livingston, who co-authored the study released in May.
