Ridesharing can get 1M cars off Metro roads—survey

Metro Manila would have a million fewer cars on the road during peak hours if a significant number of commuters use ridesharing applications instead of taking privately owned cars, according to a survey commissioned by Uber.

This is according to a report released on Thursday by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm which conducted the survey in 10 cities in Southeast Asia including Metro Manila.

Titled “Unlocking Cities,” the report sought to assess the potential benefit of ridesharing in key Asian cities, namely: Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Surabaya, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Manila.

One of the findings pointed to a significant reduction in the number of cars on the road during peak hours— from 7 to 9 a.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m. To come up with an estimate, BCG said it quantified the number of vehicles that could be taken off the road in a scenario where the mostly privately owned vehicles were substituted by ridesharing.

“In cities where private cars make up the majority of private transport, between 40 percent to 60 percent can be removed,” the report said, noting that this would be the case if ridesharing became the third, if not the second, most popular mode of transportation.

Vehicle volume

There are about 2.4 million public and private vehicles in Metro Manila as of 2016, according to the Land Transportation Office.

The BCG survey was conducted from September to October this year, covering approximately 300 commuters per city. This was around the same time Uber Philippines went back online after the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulation Board imposed sanctions on the transport network company for accepting new driver applications in spite of a government directive against it.

The study covered ridesharing in general, which includes pooling and non-pooling. Among other benefits, the study said, ridesharing could also convince a good number of people not to own cars anymore.

According to Uber Philippines general manager Laurence Cua, the company’s Uber Pool option—wherein rides are shared among people with common routes or destinations—accounts for 40 percent of their trips on average.

Uber currently operates in Metro Manila and Cebu, and is exploring other areas like Pampanga province, he said.