Ride-hailing apps contribute to climate change

The argument

The environmental case against ride-hailing apps is that they have added vehicle traffic rather than replacing it, and the emissions data from Europe and the USA point the same way. According to a report written by the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E), emissions from taxi-like services increased by 23 percent between 2012 and 2017. The report also found a correlation between rising emissions and private hire vehicle licenses in London, which almost doubled to 89,000 during the same period. The pairing of those two findings is what carries the argument: the emissions rise tracks the growth in licensed vehicles, which is the pattern expected if the apps are putting more cars on the road rather than using existing ones more efficiently. The market structure concentrates that effect. As a leading ride-hailing app in London, Uber's app is opened eight more times than its competitors, so the largest share of the additional journeys runs through a single operator, and that operator's choice of fleet determines most of the sector's footprint. T&E warned that Uber's business practice of using combustion engine and fossil fuel-powered cars is detrimental to Europe's transition towards green and sustainable cities — the objection being not that the trips occur but that they occur in the most polluting way available. The comparison that matters most is with what the journeys displace. In the USA, the Union of Concerned Scientists have evaluated the ride-hailing sector's toll on the environment. The study found that on average, ride-hailing apps in the U.S result in 69 percent more pollution than the forms of transport they replace. A service that substitutes for walking, cycling or public transport does not merely add emissions of its own; it removes cleaner journeys from the road to do it.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Uber introduced a clean air plan in London in January 2019 to raise funds for drivers to switch to electric vehicles. The initiative includes introducing a 15p per mile surcharge fee to all trips booked in London through the app. Uber's goal is to convert 20,000 drivers to electric cars by the end of 2021. Its long term goal is to run a fully electric fleet in London by 2025. Ride-hailing apps like Uber help tackle climate change through their ridesharing feature called UberPool. UberPool allows users to share a ride with up to six people who are traveling in a similar direction and can reduce emissions by half per passenger. Ridesharing can also reduce gasoline consumption. Additionally, Uber will not have cars older than 3-5 years in their fleet. On average, Uber will cause less pollution than private cars.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Fleet composition is a contingent fact that has been changing, with electrification commitments and per-mile surcharges levied to fund the transition. The premise treats the fleet as it stood at one moment as though it were definitional of the service. [Rejecting P2] The comparison depends heavily on what counts as the mode replaced. The higher figures come from measuring against a baseline that includes public transport and walking, and from deadheading — miles driven empty between fares — which is a feature of how trips are dispatched rather than an inherent property of the app. [Rejecting C] The conclusion jumps from an environmental cost to a verdict on social benefit. Accessibility for people without cars, late-night transport where services do not run, reduced drink-driving and flexible earnings are never weighed, and a single dimension cannot settle the question the position poses.