🔓📈 NYC Uber & Lyft Utilization Rates Rebound. Lockout Risk Declines, As Uber Monopoly Takes Hold
Uber & Lyft's NYC utilization rates (UR), or how busy a driver is kept while on the apps, jumped in September. Risk of app lockouts decrease, but taxi industry & other FHV sectors still struggling
Just a few weeks ago, based on the latest available TLC data at the time, we published an article about rapidly declining Uber and Lyft NYC utilization rates (UR).
We don’t want to repeat the whole article and overview why UR is so important, but we did mention seasonality might impact Uber & Lyft’s UR, which is used in the TLC driver minimum pay formula.
Well, it appears, both Uber and Lyft NYC strongly reversed a declining UR trajectory, with Uber NYC breaking a 60% UR (📈) and the industrywide year-to-date (ytd) UR increasing above 55%, well above of the 53% UR floor.
Lockout Probability Decreases, But *New* NYC Uber Drivers Might Be Onboarded
Firstly, we are glad to see UR this healthy as it implies NYC Uber & Lyft drivers are busy, which should hopefully translate into stronger earnings for drivers who work on the apps (Note: this is different than ALL TLC-licensed drivers). This should also presumably decrease the risk of lockouts, or the Uber/Lyft planner ret…
