Uber Marketed for Everyone, Most Used in Gentrified Neighborhoods
Cities are profoundly shaped by their transportation. As Uber fought against a City Council bill that would have limited its number of new drivers, it touted the benefits of its service to those in the outer boroughs where yellow cabs and transit lines don’t always reach. But that hasn’t exactly played out. According to Uber trip data received by Politico…
Cities are profoundly shaped by their transportation.
As Uber fought against a City Council bill that would have limited its number of new drivers, it touted the benefits of its service to those in the outer boroughs where yellow cabs and transit lines don’t always reach. But that hasn’t exactly played out.
According to Uber trip data received by Politico NY, from January to June, Uber cars made 14.3 million trips — with 72.7 percent originating in Manhattan, 16.3 percent in Brooklyn, 9.4 percent in Queens, 1.5 percent in the Bronx and 0.05 percent in Staten Island.
The areas with the highest concentration of Uber pickups over the six-month period were Manhattan below 98th Street, the city’s airports, and gentrified (or gentrifying) Brooklyn: Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Crown Heights North, Bushwick South and Park Slope, Politico reported.
Neighborhoods grow when traversing the distance from there to here is fast and convenient. The influence of Brooklyn’s Fulton Street Ferry, its elevated lines, and the BQE are still evident today. Yes, Uber has the potential to disrupt the existing transit fabric.
Its tale of using convenience to dissolve the city’s old boundaries is still far from fulfilled, however. But the potential is there.
Uber trips from far flung areas are growing, if only slightly. An analysis of 2014 pickup data found that Uber accounted for a greater percentage of pickups than yellow taxis in a number of outer neighborhoods like Dyker Heights and Marine Park. But when the total number of pickups in an area is so small, the impact might appear larger than it is.
Politico quotes Uber spokesperson Matt Wing as saying “a third of Uber’s trips are in the outer boroughs” and the fastest-growing service areas are Staten Island and the Bronx.
Brownstoner took an Uber car to Staten Island for a meeting just the other day. We had to take a local car service back to Brooklyn.
[Source: Politico NY | Image: Politico NY]
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Uber is great for everyone. Yes gentrified areas use Uber more because they probably have more tech savy people that can use the app. Give it time and I am sure you will have more users everywhere.
This just reminds me that by the time we’d left New York, we’d had multiple horrible experiences with every car service. One didn’t show up for an airport pick up (after confirming twice). One didn’t show up when we were standing on a street corner with a vomiting kid on a freezing night in crown heights. One had a driver who tried to go home with my babysitter and scared her. One took an hour to go from Clinton hill to Greenpoint. One picked up the wrong fare and then yelled at me when I called asking where the car was. One was the most reliable we’d ever found… until one day, they seemed to have gone out of business. Uber isn’t any worse than any of that. And with them, if the first driver doesn’t work out, there’s an alternative. I find their labor practices dodgey as hell… but I’m not sure they’re worse than the livery cabs they’re replacing.