[wheelguy]

CHICAGO: A proposal to combat traffic congestion in Chicago by increasing taxes on certain ride-hailing trips won city council approval on Tuesday as the city and ride providers accused each other of penalizing low-income passengers.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot's plan increases the city's tax on single-passenger trips and lowers the tax on shared rides, while imposing new surcharges on weekday rides in the downtown area to raise $40 million for the fiscal year that begins Jan. 1.

Ride-hailing companies Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft Inc claimed the move would largely hurt low-income residents.

Earlier this month, the city's first female African-American mayor accused Uber of trying to resist any kind of regulation by stirring up racial tensions. Uber rejected her claims and said alternative proposals it offered would spare lower-income communities in Chicago's South and West sides from higher costs, while raising more money for the city's budget.

Reuters' analysis of data that ride-sharing companies are required to disclose to Chicago shows fares for shared rides in the city have risen significantly over the past year, while fares for single riders have remained stable.

The price increases for shared rides predominantly affect Chicago's low-income neighborhoods where most of carpool rides are booked, the analysis showed. Over this period of increased fares, carpool ridership fell.

The way to go is increase taxes on single occupancy rides and lower taxes on shared rides. Wonder why the racial tensions are popping up.

Source: ET Auto

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by wheelguy

The way to go is increase taxes on single occupancy rides and lower taxes on shared rides. Wonder why the racial tensions are popping up.

Source: ET Auto

I think the companies are raising the shared rides prices compared to single passenger rides. Hence increase in tax for single passenger rides. Not sure if I understood it correctly, are both for Uber and Lyft like companies or its general for all cars ?

Is Uber increasing prices for shared (carpool) rides vs single passenger rides ?

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by wheelguy

The way to go is increase taxes on single occupancy rides and lower taxes on shared rides. Wonder why the racial tensions are popping up.

Here's probably why:

Reuters' analysis of data that ride-sharing companies are required to disclose to Chicago shows fares for shared rides in the city have risen significantly over the past year, while fares for single riders have remained stable.

The price increases for shared rides predominantly affect Chicago's low-income neighborhoods where most of carpool rides are booked, the analysis showed. Over this period of increased fares, carpool ridership fell.

Taxis (traditional or app-based) help to reduce the number of private cars on the road; burdening them with additional tax may not exactly be productive. But Chicago has a pretty good public transport network (within the city) so they can perhaps deflect any criticism of this move.