What would it take to unseat New York City’s iconic yellow cab as the king of the street hail? Three thousand Ubers and a computer algorithm, according to a new study.
Although about 14,000 yellow cabs have licenses to roam the city, new research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggests the city’s transportation network could be supported with just a quarter of that — if passengers were willing to carpool through services such as Uber and Lyft.
In a six-month study, a team of researchers created an algorithm showing that 3,000 four-person cars could serve 98 per cent of the city’s taxi demand, with wait times averaging only about 2.3 minutes.
Faiz Siddiqui – The Record – January 3, 2017.