Uber Invites Consumers to Give up Car, Try Alternative Transportation

Uber is inviting consumers to give up their personal car for five weeks and adopt a “car-light lifestyle.”

The ride-hailing company will select up to 175 people in seven cities across the United States and Canada to participate in its One Less Car trial, Uber said in a Thursday (June 27) press release.

After receiving applications and selecting the participants, Uber will provide each participant with $1,000 — the average monthly cost of owning a vehicle — that they can use for alternative transportation options like public transit, Lime eBikes and eScooters bookable in the Uber app, car rentals and rideshare, according to the release.

Throughout the trial, participants will be asked to share their experience, including the transportation alternatives they used and the impact that this change had on their lives, per the release.

The One Less Car trial aims to promote a lifestyle that will provide an alternative to the cost of vehicle ownership, traffic and pollution, per the release.

“And with nearly 233 million private vehicles on the road throughout the U.S. — 80 million of which are driven less than 10 miles a day on average — we’re out to show that it’s possible to make the switch to a car-light lifestyle, saving both money and emissions, while contributing to more livable cities,” Adam Gromis, global head of sustainability policy at Uber, said in the release.

During a similar trial in Australia in 2023, which involved 58 people giving up their cars for four weeks, Uber found that participants were able to replace most of their usual car trips with other forms of transportation, according to the release.

At that time, Uber found there were three major barriers to reducing private car usage: access to alternatives, convenience and the perceived value of car ownership, according to a page devoted to One Less Car.

Based on its findings, Uber said on its One Less Car page that city leaders around the world should “provide their constituents with the infrastructure, reliability and awareness needed for at least four alternate modes of transit.”

Uber reported in May that the tally of its monthly active platform consumers was up 15% to 149 million, including those who completed a mobility ride or placed a delivery order.