UBER · PSG0038150LYFT · PSG0032513CPUC / SFCTA · 2019–2020

Uber vs Lyft — California TNC Data Comparison

Uber: 157,167,691 trips (full population) · Lyft: 61,072,046 trips · Sept 2019 – Aug 2020 · Self-contained HTML
Priyanka Paithankar · Kara M. Kockelman · The University of Texas at Austin
ℹ️ What do these metrics mean? (click to expand)

Key Metric Definitions

Req → Pickup
Rider wait from request to driver arrival. Mean ~6.8 min (Uber only).
Deadhead Ratio
Share of total miles driven empty (cruising + driving to pickup) vs. with a passenger. Uber only — Lyft has no mileage data.
Cruising
Miles a driver travels while the app is on but no ride is assigned — waiting, repositioning. Avg 1.78 mi per trip.
Driving to Pickup
Miles from when a driver accepts a ride to when they reach the passenger. Avg 1.27 mi per trip.
Passenger in Car
Revenue miles with the passenger on board. Avg 7.28 mi per trip.
Pool Match Rate
Of shared ride requests, what % matched with another rider.
Tip Rate
% of trips with a tip > $0.
Surge Pricing
Y/N flag for dynamic pricing.
Full Population
All rows processed: Uber 157M, Lyft 61M. No sampling.
Total Trips (Full Pop.)
Uber 157MvsLyft 61M
Uber 2.6x larger in California
Full population: Uber 157,167,691 and Lyft 61,072,046 accepted rides.
Tip Rate
18.0%vs22.9%
Lyft riders tip more often
Uber avg tip $3.39 vs Lyft $3.47 (when tipped).
Pool Match Rate
63.8%vs29.8%
Uber matching 2.1x more effective
Of shared requests, Uber matches 63.8% vs Lyft 29.8%.
Uber Deadhead RatioUber only
29.6%
Empty / Total miles
29.6% of all miles are empty: cruising (1.78 mi avg) + driving to pickup (1.27 mi avg). Uber only — Lyft submitted no mileage.
Uber: Req → PickupUber only
6.8 min
Match: 0.73 min
Uber only. Lyft has no timestamp data.
Surge Frequency
13.8%vs12.6%
Uber 1.60x eff. multiplier
Uber $3.29/mi surge vs $2.06/mi normal.
Data availability note: Lyft submitted only 8 of 77 required fields — no timestamps, ZIP codes, mileage, or fares. Uber retained 30 fields. Hourly, spatial, and operational charts are Uber-only. The Uber vs Lyft comparison covers metrics both reported: tipping, pool rates, surge, occupancy, and service mix. Lyft ZIP data comes from their aggregated file.
Uber Demand Patterns — Trips by Hour, Day, MonthUber only


Uber: Trips by Hour of DayUber only
Lyft submitted no timestamps.
Uber: Monthly Volume — COVID ImpactUber only
23.6M → 2.6M trips/month (Feb → Mar 2020).
Uber: Deadhead Ratio by HourUber only
Filterable by period. Lyft submitted no mileage.
Uber: Mean Wait Times by HourUber only
Lyft submitted no timestamps.
Uber Fare Patterns — $/mile & Trip Distance by Hour / Day / MonthUber only


Fare normalized by distance. Hour/DoW shown as estimates scaled from monthly ground truth & demand patterns.
Uber: Fare per Mile ($/mi)Uber only
Normalized pricing. Population avg: $2.21/pass-mi, $1.56/VMT-mi.
Trip-level (761,886 cleaned trips, 0.5% sample): mean $3.39/mi · median $2.62/mi · std $2.36.
Uber: Avg Trip Distance (miles)Uber only
Passenger miles per trip. Population avg: 7.28 mi.
Trip-level (761,886 cleaned trips): mean 7.01 mi · median 4.41 mi · std 7.19 mi.
Spatial Demand Map — Uber vs LyftUberLyft
California Trip DistributionUberLyft
Click any circle for Uber + Lyft stats. 116 locations.
Head-to-Head: Uber vs LyftUberLyft
Tipping Behavior — Continuous DistributionUberLyft
Share of trips by tip amount ($0.25 bins, log y-axis). Uber avg when tipped: $3.39 · Lyft: $3.47.
Pool/Shared Ride MatchingUberLyft
Lyft riders request shared more; Uber matches 2.1x better.
MetricUberLyftDifference (Uber − Lyft)
Requested Shared (% of all trips)12.7%18.5%−5.8 pp
Got Matched (% of all trips)8.1%5.5%+2.6 pp
Unmatched (% of all trips)4.6%13.0%−8.4 pp
Match Rate (matched / requested)63.8%29.8%+34.0 pp (ratio 2.14×)
Total Shared Requests19.97M11.28M+8.69M (ratio 1.77×)
Matched Shared Trips12.75M3.36M+9.39M (ratio 3.80×)
Service Type Mix — Uber & LyftUberLyft
Share of trips by service tier as reported to CPUC. Uber filed 2 categories; Lyft filed 7+.
ServiceUber %Uber TripsLyft %Lyft Trips
Standard (UberX / Lyft)87.3%137,196,88378.9%48,190,896
Shared (Pool / Shared)12.7%19,970,80818.5%11,278,614
XL——1.6%994,232
Lux——0.8%470,830
Lux Black——0.1%83,113
Lux Black XL——0.1%50,813
Access / Promo / Self-Driving——<0.1%3,548
Comparison SummaryUberLyft
Filter by service type.
MetricUberLyftWinner
Uber Pricing & MilesUber only
Uber: Fare per Mile DistributionUber only
Normalized for trip distance. Shape from log-normal fit to trip-level sample.
Trip-level (761,886 trips): mean $3.39/mi · median $2.62/mi · std $2.36.
Uber: Fare per Minute DistributionUber only
Fare / trip_duration, clipped at 99.5th percentile.
Trip-level (761,886 trips): mean $1.09/min · median $1.00/min · std $0.49. Trip duration: mean 16.2 min, median 12.9 min, std 11.9 min.
Uber: Where Do Drivers Spend Their Miles?Uber only
Avg miles per trip split into cruising / dispatch / passenger. Filter below.
Uber: System-wide VMT Composition & Deadhead EconomicsUber only
Total vehicle miles across 157M Uber trips: 1.62B mi. 29.6% are empty — the core deadhead problem. Lyft submitted no mileage data.
SegmentShareMiles (B)Rev impact
Cruising (empty)17.3%0.281$0 (lost opportunity)
Dispatch to pickup12.3%0.200$0 (pre-revenue)
Passenger (revenue)70.4%1.145$2.528B @ $2.21/mi
Total VMT100%1.625Fare-per-VMT: $1.56
Uber: Day of Week VolumeUber only
Full population of 157M Uber trips. Lyft submitted no timestamps.
Uber: Top 15 Vehicle MakesUber only
Lyft submitted no vehicle data. Select a make to drill into its top models.
Uber: Vehicle Year DistributionUber only
Uber fleet age (2000+). Lyft submitted no vehicle data.
Uber Location Rankings — by ZIP CodeUber only
All four tables below use Uber pickup/dropoff ZIPs (PassengerPickupZip & PassengerDropoffZip). Lyft submitted no ZIP codes. All fare values are averages across trips in the ZIP (not medians).
Uber: Top 15 Locations by DemandUber only
Real pickup/dropoff counts from Uber's PassengerPickupZip & PassengerDropoffZip fields. Time filter scales by period share (estimated per-ZIP). Fare column shows average fare across trips in the ZIP.
#LocationZIPUber Pickup + DropoffAvg DH%Avg Fare
Uber: Highest-Deadhead Locations (≥100K trips)Uber only
DH% is the average deadhead ratio across Uber trips in the ZIP. Lyft submitted no mileage. Filter by direction & time.
#LocationZIPAvg DH%Uber TripsAvg Fare
Uber: Lowest-Deadhead Locations (≥100K trips)Uber only
Most efficient. DH% is the average deadhead ratio across Uber trips. Filter by direction & time.
#LocationZIPAvg DH%Uber TripsAvg Fare
Uber: Highest-Avg-Fare Locations (≥50K trips)Uber only
Fare column shows average fare across trips in the ZIP (the cache stored means only; trip-level median not available per ZIP). Filter by direction & time.
#LocationZIPAvg FareAvg MiUber Trips
Data Inventory
Uber vs Lyft: Fields Submitted to CPUC/SFCTAUberLyft
Uber — 30 of 77 fields
Timestamps ×4ZIP Codes ×6Period Miles ×3TotalAmountPaidTipSurgePricingPool Req/MatchServiceTypeVehicle Info
Lyft — 8 of 77 fields
pool_requestpool_matchtipsurgepricingvehicleoccupancyservicetype
No timestampsNo ZIP codesNo mileageNo fares
Sources: SFCTA 2020 TNC Report · CPUC TNC Data Portal
Authors: Priyanka Paithankar & Kara M. Kockelman, The University of Texas at Austin
Contact: priyanka.paithankar@utexas.edu