If I am going out and plan to have just one drink, I’ll call an Uber. And that’s a good thing: Drunk driving is a public-health crisis, killing more than 10,000 people a year. One advantage of ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft is that, according to a number of studies, they reduce drunk driving.
But there’s another connection between ride-hailing and alcohol. Ordering that Uber, it seems, encourages people to drink more than they otherwise would.
That’s the big takeaway of a newly published study by a team of economists: Jacob Burgdorf and Conor Lennon of the University of Louisville and Keith Teltser of Georgia State University. Their study tracks the connection effects of ride-hailing services and drinking behavior across U.S. cities and metropolitan areas.
Previous research has found that the introduction of Uber’s ride-hailing service was associated with a 10 percent decrease in overall fatal crashes involving alcohol; a 10 percent decrease in drunk-driving arrests in Seattle (according to an analysis by Uber and Mothers Against Drunk Driving); and a 25 to 35 percent decline in booze-related crashes in four New York City boroughs. (However, other research has challenged such findings.)
Meanwhile, studies have found that alternatives to driving can lead to increased drinking. Indeed, one found peak use of Uber ride-hailing to be correlated with bar closing times in cities lik ..
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