Uber will become more popular: survey

Edmonton’s share of Uber riders is set to skyrocket and will come at the expense of the traditional taxi industry, a survey released Tuesday suggests.

SATOV Consultants of Toronto conducted an online survey with 1,000 residents in six cities where Uber operates — Edmonton, Toronto, Chicago, Dallas, Montreal and Seattle.

They found 54 per cent of respondents used Uber in the last two months.

Uber is a relatively recent arrival in Edmonton, and its numbers were significantly lower than the rest.

“Uber has been in business for four years. Compare that to Expedia or Amazon,” company founder Mark Satov said, pointing to companies which used technology to similarly upend their respective industries.

Those companies did not gain anywhere near the market penetration Uber has in four years.

“I’m sure Uber is not there yet in Edmonton, but in a year it will be.”

Uber did not pay for the survey and is not one of his clients, Satov said.

Satov said his company did the research because he felt consumers’ views were lacking in the Uber debate. The results carry a margin of error of plus or minus three per cent, 95 per cent of the time.

Satov found in cities where Uber is established, people were taking about 30 per cent more trips with the ridesharing service than they do with traditional taxis.

He also found high public support for Uber — 68 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement “Uber is good for our city,” a figure that includes those people who said they didn’t use Uber.

Three-quarters of the people who use Uber first tried it for the convenience and about the same number stay loyal to the company because it’s cheaper.

Uber riders said they took traditional taxis 56 per cent less often since they started using Uber. Nearly 40 per cent of non-Uber users said they would try ridesharing if it was regulated in their city.

A bylaw to regulate ridesharing companies such as Uber in Edmonton is scheduled to go before council in November.