Blacks face discrimination in ride-hailing, Including With Uber

African-American travelers wait as much as 30% longer for UberX rides, and people with African-American sounding names had their UberX trips canceled at twice the rate of those with white-sounding names, a study released Oct 31 found. Though the actual difference in wait times was small, on average 90 seconds, it is another reminder the online economy still mirrors a flawed world.

“Technology was supposed to be a tool that mitigated discrimination because it’s based on algorithms rather than subjective expectations. But we see that doesn’t always happen,” said Darrick Hamilton, a professor of economics and urban policy at The New School in New York City. Researchers at the University of Washington, Stanford University and MIT used black and white university students to study the behavior of drivers for UberX and Lyft. All told, they took nearly 1,500 rides on controlled routes. The tests were conducted in Seattle and Boston. In Seattle, African-American riders using UberX waited approximately 30% longer to be picked up than white riders. Black riders waited on average 5:15 minutes while white riders waited 4 minutes. The researchers suggested drivers may have taken longer to identify black riders at pickup, adding to the wait time. Uber drivers do not see riders' photos, only their names.