Uber
usage up
Uber rides strongly preferred to taxi rides
TORONTO, April
11th, 2015 - In
a random sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 865 Toronto
voters, close to one fifth have used the Uber ride-sharing app (17%), up from
about one tenth in November of last year, when Uber first started operating in
the city (12%). Users tend to be the youngest (28%), males (22%), the
wealthiest ($100K to $250K - 27%) and among NDP voters (23% - a proxy for
youth).
Three quarters prefer Uber ride to taxi ride
Fully
three quarters of Uber users say the service is better than the average taxi
ride (74%), and more than half say it is "much better” (52%). This mirrors
findings from November (78% better, 53% much better).
Very few approve of banning Uber
Just
one sixth of Toronto voters want Uber banned (14%), similar to levels seen in
November (18%). However, the proportion disapproving of a ban has increased
from just more than two thirds then (68%) to more than three quarters now
(77%).
"It is clear the service Uber
provides is popular, and more so than taxi service. Moreover, Toronto voters
don’t support any attempt to ban it. This will be a thorny issue for the mayor,
but it is one which he appears to have picked the correct side," 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.
