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UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Ridehail Revolution: Ridehail Travel and Equity in Los Angeles Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4r22m57k Author Brown, Anne Elizabeth Publication Date 2018 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Ridehail Revolution: Ridehail Travel and Equity in Los Angeles A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Planning by Anne Elizabeth Brown 2018 © Copyright by Anne Elizabeth Brown 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Ridehail Revolution: Ridehail Travel and Equity in Los Angeles by Anne Elizabeth Brown Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Planning University of California, Los Angeles, 2018 Professor Brian D. Taylor, Chair A stark mobility divide separates American households with and without cars. While households with cars move easily across space, households without cars face limited access to opportunities. But no longer. Ridehail companies such as Uber and Lyft divorce car access from ownership, revolutionizing auto-mobility as we know it. Despite its high-tech luster, we do not yet know how ridehailing serves different neighborhoods and travelers, and who, if anyone, is left behind. The closest historical analog to new ridehail services is the taxi industry, which has a history of discrimination, particularly against black riders and neighborhoods. Ridehail services may discriminate less than taxis and extend reliable car access to neighborhoods underserved by taxis. Or they may not. In this study, I pose and answer three questions about ridehail access and equity in Los Angeles. First, what explains the geographical distribution of ridehail trips across neighborhoods? Second, what explains ridehail use by individuals? Finally, is there evidence of racial or gender discrimination on ridehail and taxi services? To answer these questions, I relied on two novel data sets. First, I used trip-level data to evaluate ridehail travel in neighborhoods and by individuals. Second, I conducted an audit study of ridehail and taxi services to evaluate if and how wait times and ride request cancellation rates vary by rider race, ethnicity, or gender. ii I find that ridehailing extends reliable car access to travelers and neighborhoods previously marginalized by the taxi industry. Ridehailing served neighborhoods home to 99.8 percent of the Los Angeles County population. Strong associations between ridehail use and neighborhood household vehicle ownership suggests that ridehailing provides auto-mobility in neighborhoods where many lack reliable access to cars. For most users, ridehailing filled an occasional rather than regular travel need, and a small share of avid users made the majority of ridehail trips. While hailing shared rides was common in low-income neighborhoods, I also find that people shared less if they lived in racial or ethnically diverse neighborhoods. Finally, audit data reveal high levels of discrimination against black riders by taxi drivers. Black riders were 73 percent more likely than white riders to have a taxi trip cancelled and waited between six and 15 minutes longer than white riders, all else equal. By contrast, ridehail services nearly eliminate the racial-ethnic differences in service quality. Policy and platform- level strategies can erase the remaining mobility gap and ensure equitable access to ridehailing and future technology-enabled mobility services. iii The dissertation of Anne Elizabeth Brown is approved. Evelyn A. Blumenberg Michael K. Manville Martin Wachs Daniel Sperling Brian D. Taylor, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2018 iv DEDICATION To my parents, my sisters, and Luke. For everything. v TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................ VI LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................... IX LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................................... XI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................................... XII CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1 IN A NUTSHELL: NARROWING—BUT NOT ERASING—THE MOBILITY GAP ......................................................... 3 Part I ............................................................................................................................................... 3 Part II .............................................................................................................................................. 4 Part III ............................................................................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................... 6 THE AUTOMOBILITY DIVIDE ...................................................................................................................... 6 ACCESS WITHOUT OWNERSHIP ................................................................................................................. 8 Carpooling and Borrowing ............................................................................................................. 9 Car Sharing ................................................................................................................................... 10 Taxis .............................................................................................................................................. 11 Informal Transportation ................................................................................................................ 13 THE RISE OF RIDEHAILING ....................................................................................................................... 14 Where and When are Ridehail Trips Made? ................................................................................... 16 Who Uses Ridehailing? .................................................................................................................. 18 When and For What Purposes Do People Use Ridehailing? ........................................................... 21 Technology as a Barrier to Ridehail Access .................................................................................. 23 UNLAWFUL DISCRIMINATION IN THE TRANSPORTATION SERVICE INDUSTRY ...................................................... 26 AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE ......................................................................................................................... 29 PART I: WHAT EXPLAINS RIDEHAIL GEOGRAPHY AND USE? ................................................................. 31 CHAPTER 3. LYFT IN LOS ANGELES: HYPOTHESES, DATA, AND METHODS ........................................ 32 OBTAINING RIDEHAIL DATA .................................................................................................................... 32 LYFT TRIP SAMPLE .................................................................................................................................. 33 CONNECTING LYFT TRIPS TO NEIGHBORHOOD DATA ...................................................................................35 Neighborhood Data ......................................................................................................................35 Socioeconomic Data .................................................................................................................35 Built Environment Characteristics ............................................................................................ 38 Neighborhood Amenities ........................................................................................................ 39 IDENTIFYING WHERE LYFT USERS LIVE ...................................................................................................... 40 LYFT SERVICE AND INDIVIDUAL USE .......................................................................................................... 42 Lyft Service ................................................................................................................................... 42 Measurement ........................................................................................................................... 42 Methods ................................................................................................................................... 42 Lyft Use ........................................................................................................................................ 43 Measurement ........................................................................................................................... 44 Methods ................................................................................................................................... 44 CHAPTER 4. WHAT EXPLAINS THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF LYFT SERVICE? ................................... 46 LYFT TRIPS IN LOS ANGELES ...................................................................................................................
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