Consumer Federation of California

State regulators have analyzed and released a tiny glimpse of data submitted by Uber, Lyft and other companies — information the firms have carefully guarded because they claim it would reveal trade secrets.

Last week, a report on some of the data was presented at a meeting of the California Public Utilities Commission. While the analysis doesn’t size up how transportation network companies are complying with state regulations overall, it does provide a snapshot of the volume of trips and growth of ride services over the past two years.

The aggregated data confirm steady month-by-month growth of transportation network companies in California, amounting to a total of 612.6 million miles driven over the two-year period from September 2013 to September 2015. Rides during that time generated about $1.6 billion in fares.

The numbers may sound large, but when compared with overall vehicle trips in California, they still represent a relatively small slice of the pie, according to Juan Matute, associate director of UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies.

The report combines data from UberX, Lyft, Sidecar, Summon, Wings and Shuddle. It doesn’t include numbers that might tell how ride services are serving passengers with disabilities and people who live in disadvantaged communities.

Continue reading on the KQED website, which also has a summary of the report to the CPUC  »

Tags: Auto Safety, CPUC, Transportation Network Companies, Uber