Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have found that ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft help mitigate the impact of racial discrimination, revolutionizing transportation equity despite systemic challenges.
An intriguing study led by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering has revealed that ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft are helping to mitigate the impact of racial discrimination in transportation — a social issue long embedded in the fabric of American urban life.
Historically, Black passengers have faced substantial discrimination in hailing traditional taxi cabs, as evidenced by prior studies where drivers disproportionately canceled rides for passengers with Black-sounding names.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon, however, were eager to explore whether ride-hailing technology had alleviated this issue.
Through detailed simulations of rides in Chicago, spanning various days and both pre- and post-pandemic periods, the researchers discovered a significant shift. Their analysis estimated that at least 3% of ride cancellations could still be attributed to racial discrimination today. However, they found that the mechanism of these apps to swiftly reassign riders to new drivers almost entirely eliminated disparities in wait times caused by such discriminatory behavior.
“The technology is mitigating a social issue, which is pretty rare,” Jeremy Michalek, a professor of engineering and public policy (EPP) and mechanical engineering and the faculty lead on the study, said in a news release. “Discrimination is having little effect on average wait times, at least in part because these apps are able to quickly rematch when somebody cancels. Whereas with taxis, it was a very hard problem to solve.”
The rapid reconnections facilitated by ride-hailing apps ensure that passengers, especially those repeatedly marginalized by conventional taxi services, can maintain essential routines without undue delays.
“Now you can be reconnected quickly, which allows for people to get to work on time, make their hospital appointments and be active participants in the transportation system,” Destenie Nock, a professor of EPP and civil and environmental engineering, said in the news release.
However, individual racism is only part of a larger, systemic problem.
The study focused on Chicago, a city renowned for its stark residential segregation — a legacy of historical practices such as redlining. This segregation means Black residents often live farther from bustling downtown areas, inherently leading to longer wait times due to fewer drivers being present in their neighborhoods.
“One thing that makes this research unique is that it distinguishes between two types of discrimination,” added first author Anna Cobb, a doctoral student in EPP.
Cobb noted that direct discrimination involves explicit prejudicial actions, such as drivers canceling rides based on race. In contrast, systemic discrimination reflects long-standing societal patterns that result in unequal living conditions, thereby perpetuating service disparities even in the absence of overt bias.
Carnegie Mellon researchers underscore that while ride-hailing technology significantly reduces the impact of individual discrimination, the broader picture remains intricate.
“In a society with entrenched disparities, even a service without any direct racial bias can nevertheless produce large gaps in service quality that can reflect, or even exacerbate, existing disparities,” Michalek added.
The study points to the need for continuous innovation and policy intervention to address the deeper, structural inequities embedded in urban environments and transportation systems.