
Uber, Lyft Charge More for Riders Going to Non-White Neighborhoods, Study Shows - reaperducer
https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/06/26/uber-lyft-charges-more-for-riders-going-to-chicagos-non-white-neighborhoods-study-shows/
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Simulacra
This article is missing many key details, such as how they determined which
areas had which demographic, where did the data come from, how was the study
carried out? At its basic level this article says Uber and Lyft cost more to
go to certain areas of a city, then it makes the leap that it's because of
racism.

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docdeek
The article also states that "People are also being charged more when getting
picked up in areas with more expensive homes, according to the study."

It's likely an article focused on this correlation and headlined 'Rich people
pay more for Uber rides' wouldn't get the same traction in the current US
political context.

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js2
> “What this study shows aligns with what many people across social sciences
> find, which is — in a world characterized by structural racism — market
> mechanisms are often going to reflect and reinforce structural racism,” she
> said.

Exactly.

> “It’s important not to equate correlation for causation, ..." an Uber
> statement said.

It doesn't matter. No one is claiming that Uber or Lyft are intentionally
factoring race into pricing. It's an artifact of structural racism. Still, it
re-enforces the existing system. We know that it's expensive to be poor. And
we know that Blacks are disproportionately poor due to centuries of racism.

So what could Uber and Lyft do about this? They'd could for example use a
progressive pricing model where wealthy riders subsidize poor riders. I have
no idea how you'd go about doing that. It's hard to piecemeal address systemic
problems. Or they could just use taxi pricing.

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nshepperd
If Uber or Lyft wanted to help solve generational poverty they'd probably be
better off donating cash to organisations like GiveDirectly instead of
distorting the taxi market (which will always be less effective per $). Not
that they could afford to do either. Last I heard they were both still losing
money...

