“Transparency in the rideshare industry is more crucial than ever. Our 2024 report provides actionable insights into how pricing, consumer preferences, and market dynamics are shaping the future of ridesharing,” noted Obi Chief Revenue Officer, Ashwini Anburajan. “By leveraging our extensive data, we aim to empower consumers and stakeholders with the knowledge needed to navigate this evolving landscape.”
The Obi Global Rideshare Report 2024 highlights significant trends and insights, reflecting the industry’s evolution post-pandemic. Combining proprietary data with public sources, the report explores critical topics such as driver pay, price fluctuations, competition amongst providers, and the growth of green rides.
Key takeaways from the Obi Global Rideshare Report 2024 include:
- Uber-Flation And The Rideshare Price Rollercoaster: In the last four years in the U.S. market, rideshare prices have spiked, dropped, and leveled out. A $30 Uber ride in 2020 jumped to $35 in 2021, $37 in 2022, and then dropped back down to $33 in 2023. In 2024, that ride will cost you $31.50, a 5% increase from four years ago. Consumers have shelled out far more for rideshare in the last three years than in the ten years prior when VC funding fueled growth over profitability. Gas prices, inflation and the push for profitability have all impacted consumers.
- Uber Underestimates Trip Duration. While the data shows trip duration has a relatively minor impact on ride selection, perhaps more interestingly, Uber appears to indicate that the trip will take less time than its competitors in New York City a staggering 85% of the time.
- Rideshare Prices Have Spiked And Stayed High In New York City: New York City is one of the biggest global rideshare markets with over 600K Uber and Lyft trips daily. It’s also the most expensive. Uber prices have increased by 32.5% between mid-2020 and the end of 2023. For the same period, Lyft prices have only increased by 9%. Price increases are also due to the increase in surcharges for consumers levied by the city and passed on by the rideshare companies. Uber riders are paying 28% more in surcharges while Lyft consumers are paying on average 6% more. On average a New York City rider pays $30 for a trip with $5 of that going to surcharges.
- Uber and Lyft Are Making More Per Ride in New York City: Public data in New York City shows that Uber has increased how much it earns per ride by 218% over the past five years. In 2019 Uber’s average earning per fare was $1.80. This has increased to $5.72 in the first quarter of 2023. Lyft’s earnings per fare increased by 30% from $4.11 in 2019 to $5.35 in 2024.
- Drivers Take Less Share Of Every Ride: Using public data from New York City, we examined driver pay. While drivers are technically earning more in New York City, their share of earnings from the total ride has dropped while their costs due to inflation and gas prices have increased. Drivers for Uber, on average, earned $17.18 per ride in 2019, which increased to $18.54 in 2023. However, the share payout to the driver dropped by 10.5% from earning 72.6% of the ride to 62.1% during the same period of time. Lyft appears to have marginally increased driver pay but by less than 1% point. Lyft driver pay accounted for 63.5% of a ride in 2019 and increased to 64.2% in 2023.
- Consumers Are Frustrated By Ride Prices And Less Loyal. The high price of rides is the number one reason consumers don’t use rideshare more, with 48% of respondents saying it’s their biggest frustration. Ride fare transparency also ranked highly, showing a clear appetite from consumers for improved transparency on how much drivers earn, vs ride provider, vs taxes. Consumers are also less loyal, focused on finding the cheapest ride rather than sticking with one provider. 37% of consumers say they are less loyal than they used to be to a specific provider, while 31% say they were never loyal to begin with.
- Consumers Will Wait Longer To Pay Less. We found that Lyft Wait & Save has become the dominant choice for consumers on Lyft, with 56% selecting the Wait & Save option. Consumers are waiting on average eight minutes versus five minutes for a normal ride to save a little more.
- Competition Brings Greater Price Stability. In London, where there are between four and five major rideshare companies, prices have stayed relatively stable over the last few years. The average price per minute is relatively stable at £3.43 and £0.89/min. Rideshare prices in London are cheaper than most global cities with Paris, Los Angeles, and New York significantly higher. In addition, 30% of the time, prices to and from the airport are the same across major providers demonstrating that rideshare companies are intensely competing for market share.
- The High Cost of Rain. A little bit of rain can go a long way in raising prices. In New York City, rain causes rideshare prices to increase by anywhere between 0.6% to 8.26%. For Curb, which is largely used to call taxis in New York City, prices still rise, but by a modest 0.6%. In London, the price increase is higher with users paying between 6% to 10% more.
- Consumers Need Incentives To Take Green Rides. Uber and Lyft have done an admirable job in increasing the number of green vehicles available to consumers in global cities. However, even though green rides have the same relative wait times and prices, consumers still choose the standard vehicle option if the wait time is as little as 1 minute longer or $1 more in price. 37% of consumers feel that green rides should be cheaper than regular rides. Overall, 10% of rides in New York are green while in Paris and London over 20% of rides selected are green rides. We credit this to European cities enforcing tougher regulations to mandate more green vehicles on the road.
- Politeness Pays. In Obi’s Rideshare Survey 2024, 62% of respondents noted the single biggest determining factor for tip amount was the politeness of the driver, followed by the accuracy of pickup and drop-off locations. And when it comes to rideshare providers, Uber riders consistently tip worse than Lyft In New York City.
- Eager for Driverless Cars. 77.5% of rideshare consumers say they are ready to use autonomous vehicles. Safety was the biggest concern of consumers who wouldn’t choose to ride in an autonomous vehicle.
The full Obi Global Rideshare Report 2024 is available for download at http://rideobi.com/report2024.