Sharing the Road: Business Travelers Increasingly Choose Uber

In our quarterly SpendSmart™ Report, we analyze the most recent business expense and vendor ratings submitted by Certify users, providing valuable insights to our clients, and to the corporate T&E industry at large. The report showcases at a global level the sort of data Certify customers can access at a company level, and can be used to benchmark how individual company spend compares to national averages and trends.

Data from the 2015 Q1 report indicates a significant shift in ground transportation usage for business travel: it’s clear that the share of total paid car rides is trending toward Uber. While taxis still dominate the ground transportation sharing economy in most cities, ride-hailing services are rapidly on the rise among business travelers.

Regional cross-sections of the data provide further insight into the sharing economy: Uber’s year-over-year rise for business users in major U.S. cities has taken significant market share from taxis. Among eight major metropolitan areas, business travelers in San Francisco and Dallas are using Uber more than taxis as of 2015’s first quarter. “The sharing economy is bringing disruption to all of these markets, but it’s fascinating to see how that disruption unfolds from city to city,” said Robert Neveu, CEO of Certify. “For example, business people in Dallas and San Francisco are now expensing Uber more often than taxis, while taxis still dominate market share in New York.”

Regarding cost per ride, the average Uber ride (including all Uber products) was $31.24 for the quarter. The average taxi fare rings in at $35.40 (including taxis, limousines and airport shuttles). “The business community is looking for value and convenience, and at the same time this is a group that is interested in innovation,” said Neveu. “Ridesharing services are making inroads into corporate budgets because they combine all of those things.”