At airports worldwide, ride-hailing drivers are queuing for passengers alongside traditional taxis. Who’s winning the fight for fares? Increasingly, the answer is ride-hailing companies, according to a recent article by Tnooz that relied on findings from BCD Travel’s 2019 Industry Forecast.
The competition is stiffer in some markets than others, and travel program managers are adapting to the use of ride-hailing services with varying degrees of success, the industry news outlet reported. It drew from BCD’s Forecast, which assessed ride-hailing by region:
- In North America, companies are still figuring out how to manage ride-hailing within their travel program. Most don’t encourage employees to use Uber or Lyft, for liability reasons, but they don’t discourage them either.
- Where Uber is allowed to operate in Europe, it’s attracting significant business away from taxis. But its reputation for being cheaper is not always deserved, especially on journeys to airports.
- In China, drivers for Didi, the dominant ride-hailing service, are able to issue official taxi receipts, which may be boosting its popularity among business travelers.
- In Africa, new entrants are disrupting the market share held firmly by its two largest ride-hailing providers, Uber and Taxify.
- Ride-hailing operator Careem holds market control in the United Arab Emirates and is expanding throughout the Middle East.
- In Latin America, ride-hailing services are thriving because of widespread smartphone use and underwhelming public transportation options. (Uber claims to have more than 500,000 drivers in Brazil alone.)
- India and Japan are regions to watch, as competition mounts between respective local market leaders.
Download the entire 2019 Industry Forecast and access an on-demand recording of a recent webinar led by the BCD researchers and industry experts behind the report.
