Uber ridership
up since last year
Conflict with taxis becomes more polarized
TORONTO February
23rd - In a random sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum
Poll™ among 836 Toronto voters, 3-in-10
have ever used the Uber ride sharing app (30%), and this is relatively stable
since the end of last year (December, 2015 - 28%), after increasing since July
2015 (22%) and April, 2015 (16%). Usage of Uber is common to the youngest
(48%), the wealthiest ($80K to 250K - 35%) and in the former cities of York and
Scarborough (35% each).
A tenth of users ride daily
One tenth of those who have used Uber take
the service daily (10%), while similar proportions take it several times a week
(13%) or at least once a week (9%), for a total of one third of users who ride
once a week or more often (32%). On average users ride with Uber about once a
week or 5 times a month.
Conflict with cabbies now more polarized
More than 4-in-10 now favour Uber over
Toronto’s cabbies in this dispute (42%) than did at the New Year (December 29,
2015 - 38%), while, at the same time, more now favour the cabbies (but fewer
than favour Uber - 34%) than did in December (29%). What has happened is that
the proportion that says they favour both sides has declined sharply, from
about one quarter in December (22%) to about one sixth now (16%). Favouring
Uber in this dispute is characteristic of the youngest (53%), males (45%), the
wealthiest ($100K to $250K - 57%) and the former cities of York (55%) and
Scarborough (57%).
“Ridership
is still growing, and more voters take Uber’s side than the cabbies’ side in
this ongoing dispute, but the real change is that the battle is becoming more
entrenched. The rider base for Uber is young and upwardly mobile, and the
hardcore are using the service in place of a vehicle, developments which should
worry the Toronto taxi industry," said Forum Research President, Dr. Lorne
Bozinoff.
Lorne Bozinoff, Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research.
He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416)
960-9603.
