Drivers from popular ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft have engaged in a “pattern of discrimination” that limits transportation options for African American passengers and ratchets up costs for female passengers, according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of Washington and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had assistants take nearly 1500 trips in their respective markets on Uber, Lyft and Flywheel. They say drivers canceled on riders with African American-sounding names more than twice as often as they canceled on those with white-sounding names. Male passengers in certain areas were more than three times as likely to have their trips canceled when they used names like Darnell, Kareem, and Rasheed, versus Brad, Greg, and Todd.
“There appears to be evidence that African American passengers receive worse service compared to white riders,” the study’s authors wrote in the paper, “Racial and Gender Discrimination in Transportation Network Companies.” The authors were careful to note the discrimination was not the result of any policy enforced by the ride-hailing providers, but the behavior of individual drivers.
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“When we see many such decisions disproportionately affecting certain groups, that points to discrimination in the aggregate.” – Don MacKenzie
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Some findings varied by market. In Seattle, African American passengers suffered through wait times as much as 35 percent longer than white passengers. In Boston, the researchers say drivers took female passengers on longer routes that resulted in more expensive rides.
“It is impossible to say in any individual case that a driver discriminated, because there are many valid reasons that a driver might decline or cancel a trip, or choose a certain route,” wrote Don MacKenzie, University of Washington professor, and one of the study’s four lead authors. “But when we see many such decisions disproportionately affecting certain groups, that points to discrimination in the aggregate.”
The study comes on the heels of other complaints of discrimination in the new sharing economy. A 2015 study conducted by the Harvard Business School found similar patterns of racial discrimination among prospective guests on Airbnb.com. In the transportation realm, there’s a well-documented history of discrimination against minorities from traditional taxi drivers, and part of the allure of new mobility services like Uber and Lyft has been they could potentially connect long-ignored communities with educational and employment opportunities that were previously hard to reach.
The researchers, in a separate portion of the study, found discrimination rampant among drivers of traditional taxi cabs. In Seattle, they counted the number of available taxis that stopped for white assistants versus African American assistants.
The first taxi stopped nearly 60 percent of the time for the white assistants, but less than 20 percent of the time for African American assistants. Further, the white assistants never had more than four taxis pass before one stopped, but the African American assistants watched six or seven taxis pass them in 20 percent of the cases.
“We believe Uber is helping reduce transportation inequalities across the board, but studies like this are helpful in thinking about how we can do even more,” said Rachel Holt, regional general manager, U.S. and Canada for Uber.
A Lyft spokesperson did not return a request for comment.
Researchers note there was a good deal of nuance in how they approached their study. For one, Uber and Lyft drivers receive information on prospective riders in different ways, which makes it difficult to make direct comparisons between the two companies. Lyft drivers see both a passenger’s name and photo before accepting a ride request—which could potentially hinder acceptance rates or wait times. Uber drivers view only a passenger’s location and star rating when they receive a ride request; only after they accept the request can they see a passenger’s photo and name.
In that case, “it is possible that some drivers might accept a trip request and then quickly cancel it after seeing the passenger’s name, as some Uber drivers have advocated in online forums,” the study’s authors wrote.
Suggestions the study’s authors make for eradicating the discrimination included not using names to identify passengers and drivers. Instead, they say a unique passcode could be given to both parties to confirm the identity at the time of pickup. Further, they say the ride-hailing companies should use their internal data to better monitor for discrimination.
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