Can Apps Save the Planet? Enhancing Urban Mobility and the Environment through Tech Adoption | Sefi Roth

Sefi Roth is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Economics in the Department of Geography and Environment at LSE. Sefi will be discussing the paper ‘Can Apps Save the Planet? Enhancing Urban Mobility and the Environment through Tech Adoption’ by Michael Guzzardi, Vincent Thorne, Hendrik Wolff and Sefi Roth.

Abstract: 

This paper investigates the impact of integrating bike-sharing into Lyft’s ride-hailing app in New York City, which eliminated informational and booking frictions when switching between ride-hailing and cycling. Using a rich dataset from bike-share systems in New York City and Philadelphia, we employ a triple-difference estimator to compare ridership trends across both cities, before and after the integration, for subscribers (monthly or annual pass holders) and non-subscribers (day-pass or single-ride users). Our results show a 12% overall increase in bike-share ridership in New York City, driven entirely by non-subscribers – who represent the marginal users of the system—as their usage surged by 122%. This increase is concentrated during rush hours, supporting the hypothesis that bike-share becomes more attractive when roads are congested, and the marginal private and social costs of ride-hailing trips are higher. Finally, we collected car ride-hailing data and find suggestive evidence that around 7% of Lyft ride-hailing trips were substituted by non-subscriber riders. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers on expanding mobility choices, promoting cycling, and reducing transportation costs. By facilitating a shift toward bike-share, such integrations have the potential to significantly alleviate congestion, improve air quality, and lower carbon emissions.

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