Ride-Hailing Discrimination Study Data from Seattle and Boston

Nearly 1,500 controlled ride requests were sent in Seattle, WA and Boston, MA to measure discrimination in transportation network companies. The study, authored by Christopher R. Knittel for the National Bureau of Economic Research, found African American passengers faced up to a 35% longer wait time in Seattle and more than twice the cancellation rate in Boston.

Use Cases

• Modeling discrimination patterns based on passenger demographics and ride performance metrics.
• Analyzing the impact of passenger names on driver cancellation behavior.
• Investigating gender-based disparities in trip duration and cost.
• Evaluating potential interventions, like anonymized bookings, on service equity.

Strengths

• Data is from a controlled experiment involving nearly 1,500 ride requests.
• Results include specific, quantified findings such as a 35% increase in wait times and a cancellation rate more than double for certain passenger groups.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file formats are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is from two specific U.S. cities, which may limit geographic generalizability.

Provenance

Source

National Bureau of Economic Research

Collection Method

Controlled experiment where passengers were sent to hail rides on predetermined routes.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

Seattle, Washington and Boston, Massachusetts, USA