The National Resources Defense Council and the University of California-Berkeley are teaming up to conduct an environmental study on the impact of ridesharing services Uber and Lyft.
The yearlong climate analysis of Uber and Lyft will study the claims that they have a positive impact on the environment by reducing pollution, despite the backlash they have received over the fact that their expansion has led to more cars on the road. The environmental effects caused by these companies have not yet been studied.
The researchers will gather activity data from both Uber and Lyft for their independent study, as well as conduct a survey on rideshare users. This survey will ask passengers about their impressions of the services, gather their socioeconomic data and ask how they used transportation before, along with whether they would take the trip if these services weren't available.
According to Amansa Easken, who announced the NRDC Urban Solutions and UC Berkley's Transportation Sustainability Research Center's study in a blog post, 25 percent of San Francisco residents reported to using Uber or Lyft at least once a month.
There is no denying that these app-based ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft and "ridesplitting" service like UberPool and Lyft Line are growing in popularity. The companies operate in hundreds of cities in the U.S. alone, and while they are convenient and can help save consumers money they would spend on car payments, insurance and gas, researchers do not know if they are hurting or helping the environment.
"The goal is to contribute to a better understanding of the impact of these major new players in the transportation ecosystem so that we can design a regulatory framework that can help to achieve our social and environmental goals," Easken writes.
The researchers plan to publish their findings next fall.
Source: The Verge
