IN THE MIDST OF A PRESENTATION on MBTA revenues, members of the T’s oversight board engaged in a debate about the threat to the transit agency posed by new transportation services such as Uber, Lyft, Bridj, and Zipcar.
The T hiked fares more than 9 percent on July 1. On Monday, Evan Rowe, the T’s director of revenue, said fare revenue at the agency since July 1 was up 4.9 percent compared to the same period a year ago and 0.4 percent below what the T had forecasted. He said revenue from monthly link passes, which provide unlimited bus and subway service, was up 5.6 percent, but unit sales were down 6.6 percent.
Brian Lang, a member of the T’s Fiscal Management and Oversight Board, said the sluggish revenues reminded him of a meeting he held recently with a group of college students who told him it was cheaper and more convenient for them to use the UberPool service than ride the T.
“Uber is encroaching on what we’re doing,” Lang said. “We need to figure out an aggressive response. We’re partnering with our potential enemies here.”
Lang was referring to a pilot project the T is running with Uber and Lyft to provide service to paratransit customers of The Ride.
State Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack said the competitive challenge goes beyond students and beyond Uber and Lyft. She said one-way Zipcars, Bridj, and other transportation services are eating into the T’s market. “We really don’t have a great model for point-to-point service for an individual,” she said.
Pollack said the changing competitive landscape should constantly inform how the T is managed. She said if a private service fills a transportation niche better than the T, the agency should adjust to that reality. “It is a huge debate,” she said.
Steven Poftak, another member of the T’s oversight board, said many of these new businesses are heavily subsidizing their services to attract riders and may not survive. “Some of these models may not be sustainable,” he said.
I think the T is at risk of losing a lot of ridership during off-peak times, especially for trips that involved a transfer. Uber and Lyft are a LOT faster, and not much more expensive than the T, especially if one doesn’t have a monthly pass.
Here’s an example from my own life recently:
Two friends and I traveled from Back Bay to Cambridgeport on a weekend evening. For the trip there, we took the #1 bus. It took about 45 minutes door to door and cost $2.25 per person. (In this case, we were lucky that we waited <5 mins for the bus, given how unreliable the #1 bus is.)
For the return trip home, we decided to take Uber. By the time we had our coats and shoes on, our car had arrived. The trip took 10 minutes door to door and cost $12.84 ($4.28 per person.) So for about $2 more per person, we got door to door service and saved 35 minutes of total travel time (including about 25 mins of walking.)
Note that I used to have a monthly pass, but cancelled it after the fare hike, so now I pay per ride. When I had the monthly pass, these discretionary off-peak trips were essentially free to me, but now since I don't have a pass, in effect Uber and Lyft become cheaper because I'd have to pay a T fare anyway. If more and more people end up dropping their monthly passes, the T is only going to continue to lose riders during these off-peak times. So, in the case above, the cost difference (at the time of the trip) since I don't have a pass is about $2. But if I did have a pass, it would have been $4.28. That might be enough to nudge me to the take the T instead of Uber.