Providing Rides When They Are Most Needed

The availability of safe and reliable options to get around is essential to reducing drunk driving in any city. That’s particularly the case in Austin, where there are few late night transportation options available and drunk driving is a rising issue.

The unfortunate inevitability of drinking rates peaking at night while traditional transportation is most available during the day means people are given no choice but to find their own way home, which often leads to driving drunk.

Data from the Austin taxi industry shows that many Austinites do attempt to get home responsibly. In fact, demand for taxis actually peaks around midnight, the same time when the highest incidence of alcohol-related accidents occur. Why? The average supply of taxi rides at midnight drops, leaving many people stranded. 48% of potential riders don’t even have a taxi dispatched to pick them up.

The cause of this shortage in supply is not a mystery. The number of taxis on the road at any given time is restricted to 745. When huge peaks in demand happen, typically Friday and Saturday nights, taxi drivers are simply unable to supply enough rides.

Uber also sees a huge spike in ride requests in the middle of the night. Unlike taxis, Uber successfully services these requests. Even when demand spikes, surge pricing brings more driver partners out on the road to ensure everyone has a safe ride home. The proportion of Uber rides completed closely matches requests during all times of day.

As seen in the graph above, Uber fills the gaps left by traditional transportation options. Thanks in part to innovations like dynamic pricing, the supply of Uber rides can quickly respond to changes in demand, ensuring people have a safe ride when they most need them – something traditional taxi can not do. Dynamic pricing, commonly referred to as surge, utilizes an algorithm that helps bring the demand of riders and supply of driver partners on the road into line by incentivizing drivers to come onto the Uber platform. As soon as demand falls or supply increases, prices quickly go back to normal. What is important to note is that when the pricing shifts, users are alerted repeatedly and must confirm acknowledgement of the pricing before requesting a trip, thus giving the user the choice whether to proceed. Users can also set up alerts for when surge is no longer in effect, allowing them to request a trip at as soon as supply and demand are in line.

The Uber platform was created to make sure that people could get rides when and where they need, no matter what – and we are thrilled that we are able to do just that in Austin.