New data shows that Uber and Lyft are becoming more popular than yellow and green cabs in New York City.
Analysis of data from the Taxi and Limousine Commission from blogger Todd Schneider found that in February 2017 ride-hailing services made 65 percent more pickups than taxis did. And the two companies combined now make more pickups per month than taxis did in any month since the data began being analyzed in 2009.
In addition, Uber is now bigger than yellow and green taxis combined.
“Over the past 4 years, ride-hailing apps have grown from 0 to 15 million trips per month, while taxi usage has only declined by around 5 million trips per month,” wrote Schneider.
The data shows that ridesharing services have been utilized more than taxis in the outer boroughs since the beginning of 2016 — and that gap has dramatically widened in recent months. In fact, Uber and Lyft are ten times more popular than yellow and green taxis combined in the outer boroughs.
And Schneider points out that there’s “a very good chance that ride-hailing apps have already surpassed taxis in Manhattan as I write this in March 2018, but it’ll be a few more months before the data can confirm.”
He adds that if the data focused on Manhattan south of 60th Street, then Uber and Lyft are already more popular than taxis.
“This surprised me; I would have guessed that ride-hailing’s Manhattan market share would be higher above 60th Street than below it, but it turns out that the Upper East Side is one of the areas with the highest taxi market share,” stated Schneider.
The popularity of ridesharing services is only expected to grow, with both Uber and Lyft vying for customers. Earlier this week, it was revealed that Lyft’s revenue growth was up 168 percent in the fourth quarter, while Uber’s increased by 61 percent.
“We’ve recently achieved record market share levels nationwide even as we significantly reduce sales and marketing expenses,” Brian Roberts, Lyft’s chief financial officer, said in a statement.
Still, Uber made significantly more in revenue than Lyft last year, with its fourth-quarter revenue at $2.2 billion, up 11.8 percent from the previous quarter.