Uber is growing the market

Stuff reports:

Uber claims it has 300,000 active users in New Zealand, “almost double” what it had two years ago.

The ridesharing app released limited data about its New Zealand business to mark three years since it launched.

San Francisco-headquartered Uber, which operates in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, also said it had more than 4000 drivers.

Many of the drivers are part-time, with “nearly half” working less than 10 hours a week.

My last driver was a young student in her 20s who is studying commerce at Vic Uni. She drives a few hours a week to help finance her studies and likes how Uber has no minimum or set hours.

The claims have been played down by the taxi industry, which said based on the feedback of its members, most Uber users probably rarely used the service.

New Zealand Taxi Federation executive director John Hart said ridesharing was having less of an impact on its members than they had feared.

Use of taxis in the cities where Uber operated had fallen by “low single digits” at certain peak times, with no impact at other times.

Great a win-win. I know several people who have never used taxis but regularly use Uber. Uber has grown the market.

Uber claimed its integration with public transport, along with other commuter focused services, meant it was taking cars off the road.

But Hart said he believed Uber may actually be leading to more car journeys, because during the day when prices were typically low, users were making suburban journeys on the ride-sharing app as an alternative to taking a bus.

I use Uber as an alternative to using my own car. Uber is so much cheaper than taxis that it is as cheap for me to Uber into town than it is to drive my car and pay parking fees. And no having to find a park.