Researchers from the University of Kentucky and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority have determined that, contrary to the concept and vision, transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft are the biggest contributor to growing traffic congestion in San Francisco. Using data scraped from the application programming interfaces of Uber and Lyft, combined with observed travel time data, the researchers found that between 2010 and 2016, weekday vehicle hours of delay increased by 62% compared to 22% in a counterfactual 2016 scenario without TNCs. The findings, which contradict claims that these services alleviate road congestion, should be of interest to transportation planners and policy makers grappling with how to regulate ride-sharing services. Their open-access study is published in the journal Science Advances . The p.m. peak period roadway level-of-service (LOS) in San Francisco. (A) 2009 conditions; (B) 2017 conditions. LOS grades roadways by vehicle delay, from LOS A […]