BY ZOE GREENBERG ’23
Last month, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker proposed a one dollar per trip tax on ridesharing companies such as Lyft and Uber. While the fee is intended to help those serviced by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), which is set to receive 70 percent of revenue generated, it will hurt students in remote areas like Western Massachusetts, who rely on ridesharing apps.
Investing in mass transit is worthwhile, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of ridesharing companies that provide an equally important service. For Five College students, the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) buses are a generally reliable means of getting around, but they have limitations that Uber and Lyft make up for.
For example, unlike the PVTA, Ubers and Lyfts are available at all hours of the day. This makes a huge difference to the safety of college students who drink. According to a paper by Angela Dills and Sean Mulholland of Western Carolina University, DUIs decreased in 150 cities and countries by an annual average of 51 percent in the years following Uber’s launch.
For students looking to leave the immediate area, Uber and Lyft are often the only viable transportation method. For instance, students looking to get to Bradley International Airport (BDL) from Mount Holyoke have three travel options. If they prioritize time over money, they can take a 40-minute taxi ride for $170- $210. If they don’t want to pay more for a taxi to the airport than an airline ticket, they can get to BDL by bus for $23-$34, as long as they’re willing to spend three and a half hours in transit. Or, students can take a 40-minute Uber ride for $40. While Uber is clearly the fastest option for the cheapest price, $40 is still expensive for college students faced with tuition and living expenses. Upping the price of the only practical transportation method for students would be financially catastrophic.
Yet, despite the merit of ridesharing services, Baker says that he hopes implementing a fee and thereby limiting ridesharing will reduce traffic congestion and road erosion supposedly caused by Uber and Lyft.
“When you’re talking about 100 million rides that literally permeate the Commonwealth ... you’re talking about a wear and tear on our roads and bridges that needs to be supported through some other mechanism,” Baker told MassLive.
A study commissioned by Uber and Lyft found that, while ridesharing services do significantly contribute to traffic congestion in major cities like Seattle, this is not seen in suburban and rural areas. In fact, rideshare apps’ impacts on traffic are still dwarfed by that of personal and commercial vehicles.
Imposing a fee on ridesharing companies that would, in turn, hike up their prices will add to an already expensive yet necessary service for students. Funding for public transit has to come from some- where, but disadvantaging residents of other parts of the state to support those serviced by the MBTA is not the solution.