This presentation was made on the 15th June at the Shared and App Based Transport Innovation Seminar, organised by the Institute for Sensible Transport. Professor Currie is based at Monash University.

1. The Uber Verdict
technology, transport and cities
Professor Graham Currie
Public Transport Research Group
Institute of Transport Studies
Monash University, Australia
Shared and App Based Transport
Innovation Seminar
Melbourne Town Hall
15th June 2015

2. 1. Introduction
2. UberX
3. Taxis in a Dry Climate
4. Why Regulate?
5. Assessment
6. Futures
Agenda
22

3. 3
This paper explores the good/ bad of UberX with a view
to guiding future urban transport policy
§ UberX - highly popular, innovative expanding new urban mobility option
§ Taxi Industry/ State Government - UberX is ‘illegal’/ against regulations
§ This presentation seeks to understand all sides of the UberX debate to
seek a balanced approach to future transport
§ Acknowledgements: major inputs from
– Those that responded to my post on Uber issues at the ITS
(Monash) LinkedIn social media site
– Final Year Transport Engineering students at Monash who ran the
following research projects:
• Andrew Chan – The Impact of Uber in Australia
• Liam Harris – Can uberX surge pricing help solve ride shortages?

4. 4
It is structured as follows
Why
Regulate?
AssessmentUberX Futures
Taxis in a Dry
Climate

5. Agenda
1. Introduction
2. UberX
3. Taxis in a Dry Climate
4. Why Regulate?
5. Assessment
6. Futures
55

6. 6
UberX is a smartphone app that lets consumers submit
trip requests to crowd sourced taxi drivers
UberX
• Founded SF 2009 - Started in
Australia (Sydney Oct 2012)
• Very user friendly mobile location App
• Generally cheaper than conventional
taxis
• Users can provide feedback on
individual drivers used

7. 7
It has many innovative features including user driver
ratings and…
UberX
• Founded SF 2009 - Started in
Australia (Sydney Oct 2012)
• Very user friendly mobile location App
• Generally cheaper than conventional
taxis
• Users can provide feedback on
individual drivers used

8. 8
…surge pricing - to improve supply in the peaks
UberX
• Founded SF 2009 - Started in
Australia (Sydney Oct 2012)
• Very user friendly mobile location App
• Generally cheaper than conventional
taxis
• Users can provide feedback on
individual drivers used
Source: Harris L and Currie G (2015) Surge and Rescue: Can UberX surge pricing help solve ride shortages
UberX Surge Pricing - Melbourne

9. Because uberX is digital/spatial some spectacular
analytics are possible
Taxi e-hails in New York City
Source: Uber Newsroom (2015) Source: t.Uber.com
uberX partner earning
99

10. 10
UberX growth has been impressive…
Source: Pocketbook, 2015
UberX Drivers Since Launch – US Cities
Uber Share of Australian Taxi Transactions
Source: Thompson, D 2015

11. 11
…but it has been a catalyst to significant service decline
in the taxi industry
Source: Pocketbook, 2015
UberX Drivers Since Launch – US Cities
Uber Share of Australian Taxi Transactions
Source: Thompson, D 2015
Figure 3 - Average Trips per Taxi in San Francisco between January 2012
and July 2014
Averagetrips
Source: Kwong, 2014

12. 12
Authorities consider uberX counter to regulatory
controls and uberX drivers are being fined
UberX drivers hauled through the courts, as Uber
appeals to public for support
Sydney Morning Herald 15-03-2015
Uber drivers face criminal charges
Australian Financial Review 6-02-2015
Victoria government issues $1700 fines to Uber
ride-sharing drivers
Sydney Morning Herald 8-04-2015
Uber drivers slapped with more charges after
ignoring orders
WA News Today 26-04-2015

13. Agenda
1. Introduction
2. UberX
3. Taxis in a Dry Climate
4. Why Regulate?
5. Assessment
6. Futures
1313

14. 14
Australian cities are a very “dry climate” for taxis…

15. 15
…they represent the lowest density cities for demand…
102
90
79
65
63
59
59
48
38
18
14
10
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
New York
Tokyo
Chicago
Singapore
Hong Kong
London
San Francisco
Paris
Berlin
Sydney
Melbourne
Brisbane
Urban Density
People per Hectare
Country
Source: The Economist - Submission to the VCEC
Inquiry into Managing Transport Congestion (2006)

16. 16
…and also the largest taxi operating areas in the world
Source: Charting Transport

17. 17
Taxi demand is highly peaked and also involves long
distances and demand lows
17
Source: Harris L and Currie G (2015) Surge and Rescue: Can UberX surge pricing help solve ride shortages
UberX Surge Pricing - Melbourne

18. 1. Introduction
2. UberX
3. Taxis in a Dry Climate
4. Why Regulate?
5. Assessment
6. Futures
Agenda
1818

19. Taxi regulation balances fares/the number of cabs for
commercial viability against agreed service standards
Industry Protections
• Set fare levels
• Limitation on supply
of cabs
Commercial
Viability
Standards
• Passenger & Driver
Safety
• Predictable Fare
Levels
• Response Times
(fringe areas)
• Response Times
(peak)
• Specialist Services
(wheelchair, MPTS)
Service Quality
1919

20. UberX upsets this balance…
Standards
• Passenger & Driver
Safety
• Predictable Fare
Levels
• Response Times
(fringe areas)
• Response Times
(peak)
• Specialist Services
(wheelchair, MPTS)
Industry Protections
• Set fare levels
• Limitation on supply
of cabs
Commercial
Viability
Service Quality
2020

21. …and can act to deteriorate service quality in important
areas
Standards
• Passenger & Driver
Safety
• Predictable Fare
Levels
• Response Times
(fringe areas)
• Response Times
(peak)
• Specialist Services
(wheelchair)
Service Quality
2121

22. 1. Introduction
2. UberX
3. Taxis in a Dry Climate
4. Why Regulate?
5. Assessment
6. Futures
Agenda
2222

23. 23
An uberX trip does not provide the same level of safety
as a Taxi trip…
§ Lower insurance coverage for
uberX drivers and passengers
§ Lower driver safety checks for
uberX
§ Lower levels of driver training for
uberX
§ Lower standards for uberX
vehicles than taxis

24. …but it does provide a great user driver rating tool
§ Lower insurance coverage for
uberX drivers and passengers
§ Lower driver safety checks for
uberX
§ Lower levels of driver training for
uberX
§ Lower standards for uberX
vehicles than taxis
2424

25. 25
Fares are usually cheaper but where do the savings
come from?
§ Less insurance= lower cost
§ Less training= lower cost
§ Lower vehicle standards= lower
cost
§ What about TAX?
§ Focus on high demand areas=
better revenue (but what about
travel at low demand)

26. uberX cuts Taxi service levels but focuses on demand
peaks; what about low demand times/areas?
Figure 3 - Average Trips per Taxi in San Francisco between January 2012
and July 2014
Averagetrips
Source: Kwong, 2014
Taxi Decline – San Francisco
2626

27. Wheelchair taxis – numbers of taxi’s constrain work
opportunities for wheelchair users
Maxi Taxi Viability
Relies on a Solid
Non-Wheelchair
market
e.g. Airport Access/
Tourists with
Luggage
2727

28. uberX has cut viability of wheelchair taxis in the US;
what will happen in Melbourne?
Maxi Taxi Viability
Relies on a Solid
Non-Wheelchair
market
e.g. Airport Access/
Tourists with
Luggage
Totalwheelchairtrips
Figure 4 – Total wheelchair pick up by ramp
taxi in San Francisco
Total
wheelchair
taxi trips
declined by
44%
between
March 2013
to July
2014
Source: SFMTA TAB Meeting Sept 2014
2828

29. 1. Introduction
2. UberX
3. Taxis in a Dry Climate
4. Why Regulate?
5. Assessment
6. Futures
Agenda
2929

30. 30
Is uberX the end of Transit?

31. Melbourne Grand Prix Transport Access
3131

32. Lets provide free taxis?
3232

33. All Taxis (3,000) = 9,000 event access trips
The Sums
• 3,000 taxis
• Say 3 person access
trips per taxi
• 3 * 3,000 = 9,000
3333

34. Can we manage 3,000 taxis?
34
195 cars
390 cars
560 cars

35. What about the other 191,000?
35
9,000
191,000
0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000
Taxi
Don’t Know
Volume of Travel
Access to the Melbourne Grand Prix
ModeofAccess

36. PT = Volume and Efficiency
36

37. 3737

38. Low density “Social Transit” ; be our guest!
38

39. Smart Transit agencies think outside the box
39
Transit runs the Car Share Scheme

40. Some Transport Researchers see uberX
as a part of “Modal Convergence” trend
40
Source: Enoch MP (2015) How a rapid modal convergence into a universal automated taxi service could be the future for local passenger transport’ Technology Analysis and Strategic Management

41. My view – uberX Futures
41
UberX Futures
• uberX has created wonderful
innovations we should all be adopting
and which we should encourage (app
based booking; user driver
assessment; surge pricing)
Its Time to
REGULATE
uberX
[Data Access
Is a
Worthwhile
Objective]
• uberX has created unfair outcomes for
the taxi industry that need to be
addressed
• uberX will deteriorate taxi service
overall which is NOT ACCEPTABLE
• “cool” and liberating smart
technology is no compensation
for worse service in fringe areas
or unemployed wheelchair users

42. www.worldtransitresearch.info
42

43. Join the ITS (Monash) LinkedIn group
to keep informed of our activities
43