There used to be a time when it was hard, very hard, almost impossible, for black folks—especially clack men—to hail a cab in places like New York City or Washington, DC. And then along came Uber and Lyft which changed the ride-sharing game, giving cabs and other transportation services like Super Shuttle, for example, a run for its money. And now it seems like we’re back to point zero as far as African Americans are concerned. A joint study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Washington, and Stanford University found that Uber and Lyft have discrimination problems:
In Seattle and Boston, the researchers used Uber and Lyft profiles with “white sounding” and “distinctively black” names to request rides. In Seattle, UberX and Lyft drivers took 16 to 28 percent longer to accept requests from the apparently African-American profiles.
UberX drivers in Boston, who see their passengers’ names and photos only after agreeing to go get them, were twice as likely to cancel a pickup of a black rider while en route, and three times more likely to cancel on an African-American man than a white one. (Lyft did not see the same cancellation effect. The researchers speculate that, because its drivers can see the photos and names of their passengers before they accept the request, discrimination happens before the transaction begins.)
To go with racism, a dose of misogyny: The researchers also found UberX and Lyft drivers take female riders on longer, more expensive trips.
In many cases, these race-related delays are a matter of seconds or a minute. Minor, sure, but enough to be statistically significant and make the services less useful for black customers, says MIT’s Christopher Knittel, who worked on the study.
To be honest, this type of discrimination is nothing new; tiring, yes, but not new. The problem—other than a bunch of assholes for drivers—is that in places like
“ … Florida, in New Jersey, and in Colorado, Uber and Lyft have partnered with municipalities to solve first-mile, last-mile problems, ferrying riders to bus stops, train stations, or even their homes for subsidized fares. The companies also have eyes on disrupting this country’s stretched and expensive paratransit system.”
Bringing discrimination into your partnership with government is not cool. Government has a history of discriminating just fine without your help. The researchers posit a possible solution: removing the photos and names of riders. But Lyft has already said “nah” to that suggestion and Uber says it is open to exploring ways to eliminate transportation inequity.
Another possible solution is checking drivers for their biases:
“ ... complete transparency. Ride-hail companies collect the data that could confirm or deny biases among drivers (or passengers, for that matter). Opening that information up to cities can help them see what’s going on—and ponder creative ways to solve it.”