CONTACT: Eric Young, SFCTA; 415-306-4509, eric.young@sfcta.org
The San Francisco County Transportation Authority has released “TNCs 2020: A Profile of Ride-Hailing in California,” the first comprehensive study of ride-hailing activity statewide, based on an analysis of annual reports filed by Uber and Lyft to the California Public Utilities Commission.
The TNCs 2020 report presents findings on a range of topic areas: Reporting Compliance and Integrity, General Characteristics, Public Safety, Labor, Environment, and Accessibility. The study focuses on Annual Reports from 2020, the first year the reports became available. Among the major findings are:
- Inconsistent and incomplete data reporting means Annual Reports filed by Uber and Lyft do not provide a clear accounting of ride-hailing activity and impacts. This means it is not possible to determine even basic facts such as the number of trips that occured.
- Uber and Lyft trips are highly concentrated in the urban areas of San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego counties, and San Francisco has 500 times more trips per square mile than the rest of the state.
- Lyft reports three times more total public safety incidents per trip than Uber, and 30 times more assaults and harassments per trip. But the rates suggest the companies may be reporting public safety incidents differently, pointing to the need for increased review by regulators.
- Lyft’s incomplete reports prevent environmental oversight. Uber produced an estimated 494,000 metric tons of CO2 in 2020.
- Half of wheelchair-accessible trip requests statewide go unfulfilled, and Uber provides 16 times as many wheelchair-accessible trips as Lyft.
The purpose of the TNCs 2020 report is to provide information on ride-hail activity in San Francisco and throughout California to inform the Transportation Authority Board, as well as state and local policymakers, and the general public on general characteristics of the ride-hail market and on performance of ride-hail services in terms of public safety, labor, environment, and accessibility. Such data can, for example, help to validate revenues produced by the Traffic Congestion Mitigation Tax, a voter-approved tax on all ride-hail trips originating in San Francisco.
Given its widespread use, ride-hail activity is of great interest to cities where the companies operate, especially in urban areas such as San Francisco.
“The Transportation Authority’s work puts a spotlight on a critical element of our city’s transportation system,” said Transportation Authority Board Member Aaron Peskin (District 3), who represents neighborhoods with a high level of ride-hail activity. “It is vital that TNCs and state regulators ensure that accurate and timely data is available to the cities where TNC impacts are felt most acutely.”
The TNCs 2020 report follows two other Transportation Authority reports on TNC activity: the 2017 “TNCs Today” report that quantified the number and distribution of local TNC trips in San Francisco and the 2018 “TNCs and Congestion,” a report providing the first comprehensive analysis of how ride-hail companies collectively affected roadway congestion in San Francisco.
Next steps
Transportation Authority staff will present the TNCs 2020 report at the Transportation Authority Board meeting on Tuesday, April 25, 2023 at 10 a.m. in Room 250 of San Francisco City Hall.
Additional Resources
TNCs 2020 website, which has links to:
- Report and appendices
- Board presentation
About the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (sfcta.org)
The San Francisco County Transportation Authority’s mission is to make travel safer, healthier, and easier for all. We plan, fund, and deliver local and regional projects to improve travel choices for residents, commuters, and visitors throughout the city. The Transportation Authority Board consists of the 11 members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, who act as Transportation Authority Board Members. Board Member Rafael Mandelman is Chair of the Board. Tilly Chang is the Transportation Authority’s Executive Director.