Would a $1 rideshare fee affect wealthier or working‑class Philadelphians more? 2 Chicago studies offer some perspective |
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker has proposed a US$1 fee on all Uber, Lyft and other rideshare trips in the city to begin in 2027. The projected $48 million annual revenue would go entirely to support the chronically underfunded Philadelphia school district, which faces a $300 million budget deficit.
Critics, including Uber, claim the tax will disproportionately hurt working-class riders.
Parker argues that the tax will be applied to the rideshare companies: The companies can choose not to pass them on to riders.
We are a professor and a Ph.D. candidate who research the benefits and costs of green technologies and policies. In 2025, we conducted an analysis to understand what the decision by Uber and Lyft riders to use rideshare instead of public transit told us about how they valued their time.
Our peer-reviewed findings might help Philadelphians decide whether they want to support the mayor’s proposal.
Lessons from Chicago rideshare study
We found that, per hour of time saved by taking Uber or Lyft, Chicago riders paid about $30. That’s roughly the average hourly wage in the Chicago region, which works out to $60,000 a year before taxes for full-time work.
Our analysis sampled eight days. About 1.4 million trips were recorded on these days, and we analyzed origin and destination information for 950,000 of these trips. The rest either started or ended at O'Hare airport, were ordered between midnight and 6 a.m. when public transit is unavailable, or had some missing data. We excluded rides in and........