IT in Transport - Ride Sharing such as Uber - Benefits, Disadvantages and Future

This report discusses the impact of IT in transport, specifically the technology of ride sharing in Uber. It covers the benefits and disadvantages of ride sharing, and the future of ride sharing with the introduction of blockchain technology.

Running head: IT IN TRANSPORT- RIDE SHARING SUCH AS UBER
IT IN TRANSPORT- RIDE SHARING SUCH AS UBER
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1IT IN TRANSPORT- RIDE SHARING SUCH AS UBER
Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................2
Discussion......................................................................................................................2
The benefits of ride-sharing in uber...........................................................................2
Disadvantages of ride-sharing....................................................................................5
Future of ride-sharing.................................................................................................7
Conclusion......................................................................................................................7
References......................................................................................................................9

2IT IN TRANSPORT- RIDE SHARING SUCH AS UBER
Introduction
This report aims to discuss the impact of the development of IT in transport. This
topic for discussion is the technology of ride sharing in uber. The advantages and the
disadvantages of ride sharing are discussed briefly in this report. The future of ride sharing is
stated in this report. Lastly, this report concludes with an appropriate conclusion for this
report.
ITS or Intelligent transportation system is a development in the sector of
transportation that includes the embodiment of intelligence in the various modes
transportation for providing developed services to the users so that the users are higher
informed and the security and safety of the users is ensured (Alonso-Mora et al. 2017). The
technology of ride sharing in the implementation of the prevailing and underutilised personal
vehicles for providing rides. Uber is the technology company that provides ride sharing,
linking of the registered riders to the river-partners in over 400 cities all across the world
(Cici et al. 2014).
Discussion
The benefits of ride-sharing in uber
The users gain several advantages with the technology of ride sharing. This is possible
with implementation of ICT in the field of transportation. With the help of the global survey
reports that is available to the users, the cities can actually gain knowledge about the process
of incorporating the technology of ride sharing into the civic infrastructure (Fagnant and
Kockelman 2015). The rideshare technology can be beneficial for supplementing the stops of
stations, where the situation is that the people are in need of another transport mode for
reaching their final destination. The cities have implemented the technology of rideshare cars
that is introduced by Uber as similar lines that are utilised by the public transport that would

3IT IN TRANSPORT- RIDE SHARING SUCH AS UBER
result in increase in the efficiency as assist in reducing the traffic, or in some extreme
conditions, assist in creating dedicated rideshares lanes and lines. Another method of
incorporating the technology of uber in the infrastructure of the cities is by including the
service in the pass cards of the cities (Stiglic et al. 2015). Fact is, while considering the cities
with lower economies, the cities can supplement services of transportation that includes
rideshare (Banerjee, Johari and Riquelme 2015). Some of the benefits are:
Substitute transportation: technology has created substitute transportation
accessible to the commuters. It means that the users can reach the desired destination easily
and in a cost efficient method (Teubner and Flath 2015). The common people who do not
possess the capital to purchase a car, or the people who have given their car to the garage for
repairing and the people who have to travel by other kinds of road transportation can face the
issue of higher transportation cost and increased time for reaching their destination. The
technology of ride sharing provides a service that can be both cost efficient and convenient
(Greenwood and Wattal 2015).
Cost effective: ride sharing technology is proving to be a cost effective solution for
the people who need to reach their destination in a less time and avoid getting stuck in traffic.
Benefits to women: Even though there has been several development in the
countries, the issue of gender disparities is a constant threat across the cultures, geographies,
and sectors. In several countries, the distribution of benefits of transportation services is not
equally executed. Ride sharing consists of the potential of lowering down the barriers for the
women in all the areas by providing flexible opportunities of work to the drivers, and
dependable transportation to the riders who are in need of transportation (Malhotra and Van
Alstyne 2014.). The report of driving towards equality utilises aggregated and anonymised
data from Uber, which includes the survey of more than 11,000 uber app users (Bicocchi and

4IT IN TRANSPORT- RIDE SHARING SUCH AS UBER
Mamei 2014). The safety and security of the policies that are implemented by the company,
uber, creates a key benefit for the women riders and drivers. The results of surveys indicates
that the ride sharing can assist women in gaining a higher sense of independency and the
freedom to travel to any place that they could not have done previously (Drews and Luxen
2013).
Smart supply: Ride sharing relies on the private drivers who provide rides
surrounding their pre-existing commitments. Approximately, most of the half of the uber
partners drive for minimum of ten hours per week (Bimpikis, Candogan and Saban 2016).
This consists of absolute discretion of the duration and location of the working framework of
the drivers and this forms a strict backbone of a greater responsive model of supply. With the
help of real time tracking of demands, the partners has the ability of logging-on in response to
the greater demand and the logging-off with respect to the lower demand for pursuing several
other activities. With the help of this method, the model of ride sharing lodges greater
variable demand across days, across weeks and across years (Wallsten 2015). It has been
observed that the driver-partners grow to be more productive with downtime that is
significantly less and higher trips per hour. The communities are benefitted with the facility
of improved services of transport that helps in scaling with the responses of the fluctuation of
demand. The technology of ride sharing has the ability of accommodating variations in the
demand of the transport that are associated with the seasonal tourism, activities in the
midweek, weeks of parliamentary sitting and the events of sporting. This technology also
improves the connectivity of transport in the centres without the addition of extra
infrastructure with better utilisation of the excess capacity of the existing vehicles (Gargiulo
et al. 2015).
Connected cities: The technology of ride sharing complements the public transport
where the dependable services are unavailable. The substitute of public transport is not the

5IT IN TRANSPORT- RIDE SHARING SUCH AS UBER
technology of ride sharing. Rather, it is the supplement, which provides a scalable and
flexible solution for several problems by connecting the riders from their door to the hub of
transport. With the improvement of connectivity among the cities, ride sharing also provide
support to the activities of local economy. In the environment, the technology of ride sharing
assists in reducing the overall national dependency on the private vehicles (Dimitrijevic,
Nedic and Dimitrieski 2013).
Disadvantages of ride-sharing
The disadvantages of the technology of ride sharing are significantly than the
advantages. However, for understanding the disadvantages of ride sharing, the viewpoints of
the customers, drivers and the industry needs to be considered.
Customers: Even though, hardly any downside remains for the customers who are
availing the increased access to a safer, stylish, transportation, in more dependable cars with
the help of an app in the smartphones, still some drawbacks needs to be considered. The issue
of surge pricing or primetime pricing of uber is a controversial and severe issue for the
customers (Ota et la. 2015). For explaining the concept of surge pricing, the process is a
method of pricing in free market, which involves the lowering or raising of the prices and in
the situation of the uber company, the number of automobile vehicles that are in supply and
the demand of the passengers who want to take a ride in the cars of the company. The prices
of the services of Uber depends on the intensity of the demand and then the prices are raised
or lowered by a particular percentage, and in several cases the prices are doubled or tripled
and the fare hikes takes effect during the period of high demand for the cars (Cao et al. 2015).
Another disadvantage to the customers of uber is that with so cheap prices and easily
accessible cars, the customers have a tendency of availing the cars for a short distance and the
price is are added up swiftly. The issue of the cancellation of the trips by the drivers is
another issue that the customers face while booking a cab for transportation. The concerns of

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safety has also emerged across several states and cities, where the regulations of the industry
of transportation are lax and the average citizens have the easy access to the E-Hail network
by pretending as service providers. even though, this can impact a positive effect by
increasing the drivers supply, the motivation level of the drivers cannot be to the required
extent, as the easy access in the network of E-hail for meeting the high standards of the safety
and professionalism (Watanabe, Naveed and Neittaanmäki 2016).
Drivers: The situation of significantly lower prices can influence negatively on the
earning of the drivers. Even though the customers consider the applications as user-friendly,
it is essential to keep in mind that the services are provided by the drivers using the name of
Uber or any other franchise (Asghari et al. 2016). The drivers have to provide several cost of
the cars that are utilised in by the drivers. The cost of refuelling and any kind of repairing
needs to be provided by the drivers. Primarily, the drivers depend on the surged prices for
making up for the lower fares and the infrequent trips. After continued recruitment of huge
amount of drivers by Uber and the competitors of Uber, and the price of the competition, the
average earning of the drivers is being pushed in downward direction. This leads to the longer
working hours for the drivers for earning a significant amount of income, which is
comparable to the amount the drivers used to earn earlier. Even though, this denotes that the
supply of drivers is larger now, the longer hours on the driving seat will lead to jeopardising
of the safety of both the drivers and the passengers. The conditions, combined with the trip
cancelation done by the customers, that can be a reason a driver misses the opportunities of
making money during the prominent hours and can effect negatively on the morale and the
earnings of the driver ().
Industry: The competition of price is damaging for several industries, and for the one
that has been already supplying a vital service and many other value added profits for the
marketplace. Services of uber communicates with the consumers of the company, the least

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expectation of a ride experience like services of limousine in a cost efficient method.
Progressively, the competitions in the ride sharing method of the companies have increased
as every company aims to provide the cheapest services to the customers. This will lead to
the stress of the drivers and finally, it will develop poor service in the future. Uber and other
companies are directly in competition with the already existing car services and taxi services
for both the drivers and the customers. This has created the fall in the prices of black car and
taxi medallion. This is beneficial for the drivers but it is disadvantageous for the conventional
groups of car services and taxi (Feeney 2015).
Future of ride-sharing
Even though services like uber provides several benefits to the people, but it lacks in
establishing a progressing framework that will benefit both the driver and the rider. The
suppy is not meeting the demands of the customers and the expectation even though
technology is growing at a substantial rate. The technology of blockchain can benefit in the
future of the car service. The benefits of blockchain are:
 Accountability will be introduced for the riders, the drivers, and eventually the
safety of the riders will be increased. In the meantime, the companies while
screening or selecting new drivers for the company.
 Ability of logging: This ability will help in the recording the activities and driving
behaviour of the driver and it can prove essential when there is a need of hiring a
new driver.
 Increased flexibility: The freedom of choosing the driver, which can be given to
the riders can generate the ability of participating in a connected network or create
a social circle of customers who they have previously provided a trip (Knigge
2013).

8IT IN TRANSPORT- RIDE SHARING SUCH AS UBER
Conclusion
Hence, it can be concluded the introduction of information technology in the sector of
transport can help in developing the industry by introducing new methods of transportation.
The technology of ride sharing in the implementation of the prevailing and underutilised
personal vehicles for providing rides. The users gain several advantages with the technology
of ride sharing. This is possible with the implementation of ICT in the field of transportation.
The cities have implemented the technology of rideshare cars that is introduced by Uber as
similar lines that are utilised by the public transport that would result in increase in the
efficiency as assist in reducing the traffic, or in some extreme conditions, assist in creating
dedicated rideshares lanes and lines. The benefits of ride sharing are safety and security of
women, smart supply, connected cities, and a cost effective solution of transportation. The
disadvantages of ride sharing for the customers are the issue of surge pricing or primetime
pricing of uber is a controversial and severe issue for the customers. Another disadvantage to
the customers of uber is that with so cheap prices and easily accessible cars, the customers
have a tendency of availing the cars for a short distance and the price is are added up swiftly.
The future of ride sharing is the introduction of blockchain in the department of
transportation for monitoring the activities and the behaviour of the drivers and the riders.

9IT IN TRANSPORT- RIDE SHARING SUCH AS UBER
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