THE UBER EFFECT: HOW TRANSPORTATION NETWORKING COMPANIES IMPACT ...

THE UBER EFFECT: HOW TRANSPORTATION NETWORKING COMPANIES

IMPACT AUTOMOTIVE FUEL CONSUMPTION

A Thesis

submitted to the Faculty of the

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

of Georgetown University

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

degree of

Master of Public Policy

in Public Policy

By

Andrew S. Kitchel, B.S.

Washington, DC

April 4, 2017

Copyright 2017 by Andrew S. Kitchel

All Rights Reserved

ii

THE UBER EFFECT: HOW TRANSPORTATION NETWORKING COMPANIES

IMPACT AUTOMOTIVE FUEL CONSUMPTION

Andrew S. Kitchel, B.S.

Thesis Advisor: Andrew S. Wise, Ph.D.

ABSTRACT

The growth of the sharing economy has shifted consumption habits of individuals

and how they approach transportation within the largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas

(MSAs) in the United States. The effect of Transportation Networking Companies

(TNCs) such as Uber and Lyft on public transportation use, car ownership, and traffic

congestion is well documented. In this analysis, I utilize fixed-effects multiple regression

to attempt to determine the relationship between the market entrance of such

transportation services into the 50 largest MSAs in the United States and the consumption

of automotive fuel by auto drivers. Using data from the Urban Mobility Report, the

National Transit Database, Uber, the Energy Information Administration, the Census

Bureau, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, this study found a relationship between

TNC operation and reduced excess fuel consumption, however without a statistically

significant effect. This study suggests that TNCs and the sharing economy are continually

shifting individual consumption habits and, with further study and more data, has

important policy implications for city planning and urban transportation.

iii

This thesis and the work that went into research and writing are dedicated to Joe Biden.

Many thanks,

Andrew

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................1

SECTION 2: BACKGROUND AND REVIEW OF RELEVEANT LITERATURE ...............4

Technology Adoption and Diffusion ...................................................................................4

Sharing Economy .................................................................................................................5

TNCs and Uber ....................................................................................................................8

Effects of Uber ...................................................................................................................10

Contribution to Existing Literature ....................................................................................11

SECTION 3: THEROETICAL FRAMEWORK .....................................................................13

SECTION 4: DATA AND DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS .....................................................14

Descriptive Statistics ..........................................................................................................19

SECTION 5: EMPIRICAL MODELS.....................................................................................24

SECTION 6: EMPIRICAL RESULTS ...................................................................................28

SECTION 7: CONCLUSION AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS ..............................37

Policy Recommendations...................................................................................................38

Conclusion .........................................................................................................................39

APPENDIX: DATASETS .......................................................................................................41

BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................42

v

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download