RIDESHARING: Uber to share anonymized travel data with cities
Jan. 14, 2015
Company hopes to aid traffic management, improve relations with transportation officials
The often-contentious relationship between Uber and the cities it operates in could be taking a turn for the better, as the ridesharing giant announced it will begin sharing its customers’ anonymized travel data with select city partners.
For each trip with its service, Uber collects and saves data on pickup location, time of day, trip destination and actual travel time. When aggregated, this information gives the company a look at where and when people need service, as well as areas that aren’t currently served or are underserved by public transportation.
Until recently, Uber has held onto that data closely but now wants to share the information on a quarterly basis, starting with Boston. According to the company, all personal information would be removed and data will be grouped by zip code. This would allow transportation officials to get a better sense of what needs to be improved, while also improving Uber’s transparency.
No other city partners were announced at press time.
