[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by emathias

Talking to a taxi driver the other day, he said there are about 4 times as many Uber/Lyft drivers as taxis in the city at rush hour. I don't doubt that. he also said they're largely responsible for the exceedingly bad traffic in the central area at rush hour over the past few years and, again, it hadn't really occurred to me, but I had *definitely* noticed traffic being much, much worse lately and I think he's correct that Uber/Lyft have a lot of the blame for that.

There must be some way to manage that. I mean, I think the idea that the City will protect medallion owners is past the point of no return, but there's got to be *something* that can be done to tamp down the cause of traffic. It used to take me 10-15 minutes in a cab at rush hour from basically Ogilvie to Lasalle/Chicago, now it takes 20-25 minutes anytime before 6pm most days if I take a cab. It's gotten absurd. I walk, or take a bike at least half of the time, and take the CTA some, too, but I take taxis or Uber/Lyft enough to know that traffic has gotten much worse since Uber/Lyft really caught on. If it wasn't for the fact that CTA buses get really slowed down, too, I guess I wouldn't care that much - if drivers want to sit in traffic, let them, but I feel bad for the bus riders.

I don't buy for a second that traffic downtown is significantly worse than it has been historically. Sure it's worse than it was in 2010, but I doubt it is worse than 2006. Certain areas are obviously much worse, but that's only because there are actually people there now. Lake and Morgan is probably more congested now than ever before, but that's simply a function of a sudden transition from sleepy light manufacturing district to mixed residential, nightlife, and office district, not "because Uber". Same goes for any general increase in congestion, there have been tens of thousands of housing units added in the last decade and the economy has gone from crash of historic proportions to the longest growth streak since WWII. Ya think there might be a handful more cars downtown than 2008 or 2009?