Black News - A recent study by the
National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge,
Massachussetts, has revealed some very disturbing information about how
African American passengers are being treated by transportation
companies like Uber and Lyft.
According to the institute, passengers have faced a long history of
discrimination in transportation systems, and that peer transportation
companies such as Uber and Lyft present the opportunity to rectify
long-standing discrimination or worsen it.
They sent passengers in Seattle, WA and Boston, MA to hail nearly 1,500 rides on controlled routes and recorded key performance metrics. Sadly, the results indicated a pattern of discrimination, which they observed in Seattle through longer waiting times for African American passengers – as much as a 35 percent increase.
In Boston, they observed discrimination by Uber drivers via more frequent cancellations against passengers when they used African American-sounding names.
Even worse, across all trips, the cancellation rate for African American sounding names was more than twice as frequent compared to white sounding names. Male passengers requesting a ride in low-density areas were more than three times as likely to have their trip canceled when they used a African American-sounding name than when they used a white-sounding name.
They sent passengers in Seattle, WA and Boston, MA to hail nearly 1,500 rides on controlled routes and recorded key performance metrics. Sadly, the results indicated a pattern of discrimination, which they observed in Seattle through longer waiting times for African American passengers – as much as a 35 percent increase.
In Boston, they observed discrimination by Uber drivers via more frequent cancellations against passengers when they used African American-sounding names.
Even worse, across all trips, the cancellation rate for African American sounding names was more than twice as frequent compared to white sounding names. Male passengers requesting a ride in low-density areas were more than three times as likely to have their trip canceled when they used a African American-sounding name than when they used a white-sounding name.
2 comments:
What is an African American-sounding name?
What is a white-sounding name?
I understood that many slaves took the surname of their owners, and the slave's descendants retained them.
Anon 5:31,
You are kidding, correct?
Or are you in denial of the fact that many African Americans do choose to select distinctive names reflective of their heritage and culture? I am sure that it was with some certain sense of pride that this year's Green Party candidate for Vice President, Ajamu Baraka, wears his name, just as I am sure that a similar sense of pride is felt by African Americans to see his name on that ballot---although readers wouldn't know much about that from reading Sam's Progressive Review.
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