

Data on Uber Usage in the U.S. - katm
http://blog.secondmeasure.com/2015/07/28/people-ride-uber-more-than-you-think/

======
minimaxir
This is not a very insightful analysis, which is surprising since I assume
it's coming from a YC batch company. (given that katm submitted it).

The stacked area charts specially are very confusing to read and are
impossible to compare the changes over time of the different categories.

There also is no sample size given, which is relevant since the average values
are close and therefore we can't easily say if the average values by subgroups
are statistically significant at a glance. (I assume it's high, but it needs
to be explicitly stated)

The title is also unanswered in the article. "More than You think" compared to
what? Normal car/taxi traffic? All the data shows is that people ride Uber a
lot.

~~~
mikebabineau
Thanks for the feedback -- we'll definitely be improving these over time!

To answer the question on sample size:

This analysis was done across >300,000 unique Uber customers from a very
large, representative sample of US consumers.

~~~
diziet
What is the source of the data set? Are you buying data from credit card/ bank
companies?

~~~
lillian
This is part of our secret sauce :)

------
FamousAspect
"Interestingly, highly engaged riders (those averaging 12 or more rides per
month) spend less per ride than infrequent riders"

Thinking about my own Lyft use here, I became a frequent user after
discovering that Lyft Line was a great and cheap way to get to work if I was
running late. So one could hypothesize that people become heavy users because
Uber allows them to take a frequent trip affordably.

~~~
lillian
I agree - the more frequent riders are likely using Uber for shorter
distances, like commuting to work. It's great to hear the other side of the
numbers (riders' anecdotal experiences) so thanks for sharing!

------
compumike
This looks like an amazing dataset. Are you able to extrapolate from your
sample up to their full US revenue? How often is your dataset updated / how
much lag is there? Looking forward to your future blog posts!

~~~
lillian
Yes - when a company reports their actual numbers, we can get a sense of what
% of revenue we see and extrapolate to full US revenue. We update our data
weekly - our blog too so stay tuned!

------
mikebabineau
Mike and Lillian from Second Measure here. We're just ramping up on these
sorts of posts, so we'd love to get feedback and answer any questions!

~~~
JoshTriplett
One thing that struck me as odd from the data: bookings are growing just below
customers, on the same scale, which seems inconsistent with only ~30+% of
customers riding only once per month. The only obvious way I can think of for
that to happen is if there are _many_ customers who ride less than once a
month, which would actually make sense; I use Uber a few times a year, when I
travel, but I don't use it locally. So, it seems like the "Domestic Customers
by Monthly Rides" graph needs to have a "0" included in it (and then a second
graph without it if that squashes the rest of the graph).

~~~
lillian
Thanks for the comment! It'd definitely be interesting to see this same
analysis for annual rides to see how many people fall into a similar category
as you.

To quickly clarify: The growth chart only includes customers who paid for an
Uber ride in that month, so any customers riding 0 times are not counted. The
"Domestic Customers by Monthly Rides" graph simply takes that set of customers
and breaks them down by # of rides in that month.

Bookings can grow more slowly than customers if customers are spending less on
average. This is in fact the case - in July 2012, customers were spending ~$85
a month on Uber. This has dropped steadily over the last three years to ~$70 a
month. This makes sense given that Uber has lowered its average price over the
years, with the introduction of UberX and UberPool.

------
thedogeye
How can a company opt out of your dataset?

------
qq66
Where does Second Measure capture this data from? Are my Uber rides in this
study?

~~~
lillian
We analyze spending across a large number of US consumers. It’s anonymized, so
we couldn’t tell either way!

------
dang
We changed the title from "People Ride Uber More Than You Think" to get rid of
the linkbait "you". Happy to change it again if anyone suggests something
better.

~~~
lillian
Thanks dang. The linkbait effect was unintentional - we'll be more mindful of
this going forward!

