INDUSTRY RESEARCH / UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · 2019

A rideshare car carries 1.4 riders on average.

A researcher drove for Uber and Lyft in Denver, logging 416 rides: an average of 1.4 riders, 7 miles a ride, and $8.15 an hour after expenses.

1.4riders in the average ride

7.0 milesthe average ride, from pickup to drop-offMedian 3.6 miles

$15.57an hour in gross earnings for the driver

$8.15an hour after the cost of drivingThe report’s average across three expense estimates

Industry research, not a Vugo® campaign result. Figures as published by University of Colorado Denver; sources below.

Study: The impact of ride-hailing on vehicle miles traveled
Who ran it: University of Colorado Denver
Authors: Alejandro Henao and Wesley E. Marshall, University of Colorado Denver
Published: Transportation, Vol. 46, 2019 (peer-reviewed); full data in U.S. DOT report MPC 19-379, March 2019
How: One of the authors drove for Uber and Lyft in the Denver region, logging every ride by GPS and surveying passengers
Sample: 416 rides (Lyft, UberX, Lyft Line and UberPool) and 311 rider surveys, over 14 weeks in fall 2016

WHAT IT MEANS FOR A CAMPAIGN

More than one person sees the screen.

The average ride carried 1.4 riders: often a pair, sometimes a group. An in-vehicle screen in the back seat is seen by whoever is riding, and a wrap is seen by everyone around the car on its way.

Drivers keep less than the fare suggests.

After fuel, wear and other costs, the driver in this study kept $8.15 an hour on average. That’s why income that doesn’t depend on the next fare matters to drivers: screens and wraps pay them for the car they already drive.

MORE RESEARCH

What the studies say.

Every industry study of moving out-of-home on one page, with how each was done.

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