pacific nw transportation consortium region 10 Pactrans

This past October, PacTrans PI and UW Assistant Professor in Transportation Engineering, Don MacKenzie, made headlines for a study he conducted with colleagues from Stanford and MIT. This used black and white university students to study the behavior of drivers from ride sourcing companies such as Uber and Lyft.

In all they took nearly 1,500 rides and controlled routes. Several key takeaways included:

• In Seattle, for Uber, African-American riders waited 30% longer to be picked up than white riders.
• Cancelation rates were twice as high from customers with “black-sounding” names than for customers with “white-sounding” names

This research is significant because, “Technology was supposed to be a tool that mitigated discrimination because it’s based on algorithms rather than subjective expectations. But we see that doesn’t always happen,” said Darrick Hamilton, a professor of economics and urban policy at The New School in New York City.

PacTrans is excited to support future work like this, as the recently appointed FAST Act Region 10 University Transportation Center, which will focus on the Mobility of People and Goods. Congratulations Don!

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