Uber usage continues to climb, one half approves of new
regulations
Satisfaction, while high, has decreased recently
TORONTO April
13th, 2016 - In a random sampling of public
opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 858 Toronto voters, one third have used
the Uber ride-sharing app (32%) and this represents a steady increase since we
started tracking this (February, 2016 - 30%, December
2015 - 28%, July 2015 - 22%, April 2015 - 18%). In other words, Uber usage has
almost doubled in one year. Uber usage is common to the youngest (53%), males
(35%) more than females (29%), the wealthy ($80K to $100K - 39%), in the
downtown (41%), among Olivia Chow voters from the last municipal election (36%)
and among college graduates (36%).
One half approve of proposed Uber regulation
One half of Toronto voters approve of the new regulations
approved for Uber and taxis (53%) when they are briefly explained, while one third
disapprove (33%) and half this proportion have no opinion (15%). Approving of
the new regime is characteristic of the oldest (60%), the wealthiest ($100K to
$250K - 57%), in Etobicoke (59%), among John Tory voters (59%) and among those
who have not used Uber (55%).
Most favour Uber over cabbies in this dispute
More than 4-in-10 Toronto voters take the side of Uber (42%)
in the dispute, rather than the side of the cabbies (31%). One half this
proportion say they favour both sides (16%), while half again say neither side
has their favour (6%), Since December the proportion favouring Uber
has increased slightly (from 38%) while the proportion siding with the taxi
drivers stayed relatively stable (from 29%).
Satisfaction with Uber still much higher than taxis, but it’s
slipped
Among those who have used
Uber, almost all are satisfied (85%), and two thirds are “very satisfied”
(68%). This is in contrast to an overall satisfaction score of about one half
for taxis (49%), with about one fifth saying they are very satisfied (18%).
Nevertheless, Uber’s satisfaction scores are down from the last time we polled
when, overall, almost every user was satisfied (93%), and close to this many
were “very satisfied” (86%). As such, there has been an 18 point drop in high
satisfaction with Uber since December of last year, and this should cause
concern.
“While Uber has been
very successful at growing its market, it has been less successful in
maintaining the high customer satisfaction ratings that were its hallmark.
While their scores are still very good, they were stratospheric last year," 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.
