Reuters, NPR, The New York Times, and Bloomberg are just some of the many news platforms that have released headlines about taxi and ride-hail prices surges and driver shortages in past months. Price increases have been observed to be as high as 40%. As we roll into Q4, the time of year with the highest demand, this under supply is only intensified. The solution? Innovation.
Ride demand is back up, but there aren’t enough drivers.
The repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to send ripple effects across the urban mobility landscape as mobility providers react, recover, and adapt to changes. Ride-hail and taxi customers feel these repercussions actualise in more expensive rides and longer waiting times. Naturally, this turns customers away, further hampering ride frequencies at large for operators.
- Blackpool Council’s licensing service reported that the two biggest operators in the town were reporting evening driver resources were 50% down from pre-pandemic levels
- North West Taxi Proprietors reported they lost about 30% of drivers during COVID
- Glasgow Taxis told BBC Scotland it had lost a third of its drivers during COVID
- Aberdeen Taxis, claims the city has lost 60% of its drivers during the pandemic
At the start of the pandemic in 2020, drivers were not getting enough business as customer demand dropped in wake of lockdowns and travel restrictions. Today, the market has flipped with more demand than there is supply.
… Continue reading on our Mileus blog.
