Uber and Lyft are Winning with Business Travelers
For the first time ever, Uber and Lyft accounted for over 50% of ground transportation used by business travelers in the third quarter of 2016.
Leading expense management provider Certify analyzed millions of receipts and expenses in its third quarter SpendSmart™ Report. Analysis of more than 10 million business traveler receipts and expenses revealed ride-hailing services account for the majority of overall ground transportation expenses and receipts nationwide. Uber and Lyft now make up 52% of the ground transportation category, with 48% and 4% of the total, respectively. Taxi is now down more than 63% since the first quarter of 2014.
“Tracking at 52 percent of the ground transportation total in the third quarter, it’s remarkable to see that ride hailing is now more frequently expensed by business travelers than taxi and car rental combined, and more popular than taxi at anytime during the three years Certify has been reporting on this data, stated Robert Neveu, CEO, Certify.
When it comes to ground transportation for business travelers, taxi services has taken the biggest hit since ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft hit the market. When compared to Uber and Lyft, taxi usage is down 63% since the first quarter of 2014. Uber continues to steadily dominate with 75% of the market, while Lyft is starting to make an impact with 6% of the market.
“Of all the disruptive technologies to come out of the sharing economy over the past several years, nothing has captured the interest of business people or captured more headlines in the media than Uber and global rise of ride hailing,” said Robert Neveu, CEO, Certify.
“Tracking at 52 percent of the ground transportation total in the third quarter, it’s remarkable to see that ride hailing is now more frequently expensed by business travelers than taxi and car rental combined, and more popular than taxi at anytime during the three years Certify has been reporting on this data.”
If the taxi service industry is wondering why the market share continues to disappear, perhaps the following data will provide clarity. Ride-hailing services provide higher satisfaction, with a lower cost than taxi services. Each quarter, Uber and Lyft are consistently rated higher than taxi services by business travelers.
New for this quarterly release, Certify detailed a selection of expense spending and business travel trends in seven major U.S. travel markets. Cities included in the Certify SpendSmart™ Metro Reports for the third quarter are New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Miami and Atlanta. Since Uber and Lyft are both headquartered in San Franciso, it is not surprising to see the city at the top of the list for both companies.
The Certify SpendSmart™ Report provides analysis of vendors, expense amounts and satisfaction rating data from corporate expense reports collected directly from its customer base. Certify SpendSmart™ reports on millions of receipts and expense transactions every quarter since 2013, delivering valuable insights to Certify clients and the business travel industry at large. Founded in 2008, Certify offers a unique automated solution for integrated travel booking and travel and entertainment expense report management in one system. Current and previous quarterly SpendSmart data and infographic reports are available here.
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