Project Brief Summary

The sharing economy & urban transportation

The sharing economy is an economic system in which assets or services are shared between private individuals, either free or for a fee, typically through the internet. It is set to reach $335 billion by 2025, and over 86 million Americans will use the sharing economy by 2021. The transportation ecosystem is shifting, and new collaborative opportunities are emerging. Whether ridesharing is part of public transportation (cars/bikes/scooters), or delivery-related services (food/shopping), the discussion is evolving, from how to provide transportation to people without a car to how to improve overall mobility for everyone.

A fairer rideshare service

While rideshare services create new opportunities, they also have drawbacks – a dominant one being the widening gap of income inequality. As part of stakeholder mapping, all stakeholders impacted by the service are considered (from riders to gig-economy drivers, to professional taxi drivers, to public transport workers, to city planners handling congestion, to the environment, etc) and there’s an opportunity to create a new ridesharing service based on an equitable distribution of benefits and burdens.

Students will work to understand how the benefits and burdens of different ride-sharing services work in New York City (who benefits and who loses) and will design with an ethical distribution of benefits and burdens in a way that ultimately seems economically sustainable. The service/product will focus on innovation and highlight key moments of difference from the perspective of customers, drivers, and brand differentiation.