Reports say that most Americans think it is much better to purchase their own cars than to rely on ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft. They believe that it would be more practical and would allow them to save more money in the end – but this is not what studies are showing. Various companies have recently conducted research proving that taking ride-sharing services is going to be much cheaper than owning a car.
The first study is from QuoteWizard, a Seattle-based startup known for its operation as an insurance marketplace. Its users evaluate costs among companies in a specific industry.
The biggest insurance comparison marketplace recently piloted a study that is going to determine which mode of transportation people would choose. In the study, they discovered that by 2027, the cost of having a car could be more expensive than to ride innovative services such as rideshare.
Denver and Seattle are two major cities in America that could potentially experience this change. QuoteWizard also mentioned that Lyft, a well-known transportation network corporation, and Uber, a mobile and web-based application, are two ride-sharing giants that would push Americans to choose ride-sharing services over owning a vehicle.
In Seattle, the estimated annual cost for opting ride-share services is going to be $6,943 and in Denver, it will be just $5,679. These figures are far cheaper than purchasing a car, which according to QuoteWizard is going to cost $7,598 by the year 2027.
The second study is from Rethinking Transportation, a report that examines the effects of disruption across the economy. According to the report, selecting autonomous ride-sharing taxis could also be much cheaper than purchasing a vehicle by 2030.
James Arbib, a venture investor from London, and Tony Seba, a serial entrepreneur and author, co-wrote the report. Rethinking Transportation discussed the fact that average households in America could save up to $5,600 a year on transportation if they choose ride-sharing services.
Arbib says, “Any technology that can save a number of lives as autonomous vehicles might do – there is sort of a moral imperative to try to introduce it when you can. From a regulatory perspective, we expect there to be a supportive framework.”
The final study talks about the same thing but focuses more on one of the most popular cities in America, which is Los Angeles.
Driverless Future, a policy roadmap for different cities, has recently conducted a research on the growing demand for ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft in Los Angeles. They found out that more than 2 million people might give up their cars because of the said demand.
Los Angeles car owners believed that they could save more money by shifting to hail an autonomous car because it is less expensive.
According to Joe Iacobucci, the Director of Transit, What we saw in the model – and we ran it a few different ways – is it is going to be a monumental shift. Forty percent to 60% who are driving today will have an economic rationale to shift to those services.”
The policy roadmap report has also conducted a study on other cities like New York and Dallas. It saw a 60% and 31% car ownership drop, respectively.
Iacobucci also stated that fewer cars into the streets are actually going to be beneficial for more cities. He said, “When you look at an average street, in a lot of cases, you could say 25% of the street is actually dedicated to the storage of cars. If we need one drop-off space that satisfies 20 parking spaces, we could essentially create on-street bus networks, separated bikes lanes, and large pedestrian facilities to make out streets the best practice of a living street.”
A Tool That Compares Costs Of Ride-Sharing Services And Personal Cars
Conducted studies and reports are not the only ones that support the rise of ride-sharing services, because even tools are also stating the same thing.
Ride or Drive calculator is becoming one of the hottest tools for many people who want to make sure that their money will not go to waste.
Todd Davidson, a research associate and lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin’s Energy Institute and Webber Energy Group, says, “The goal of this work was to try to basically take the true, full cost of ownership – all of the obvious and non-obvious costs associated with owning a car – and then begin to compare it to mobility services.”
The tool has the ability to plug in the following things:
- The sticker price of the new vehicle
- How much one drives
- Comprehensive information about the loan
The tool has the ability to tweak the following things:
- How much one pays for maintenance
- Insurance
- Gas
- Registration
The tool has the ability to calculate the following things:
- Property taxes one pays on his/her garage
- The worth of the time spent stuck in traffic
Ride or Drive is going to be useful for many people because they will now get the chance to understand how the mode of transportation patterns could change in the future.
In the United States, the ride-sharing industry has a whopping revenue of $17, 191 million in 2018. This numerical value is a living testimony that ride-sharing services are on its way up.
Uber and Lyft are really helping transform the transportation model but it does not mean the end of the era of cars. Owning a car is still and will always be a practical thing to do and a part of the American dream.
