Unintended consequences affect free market projects, too

Free marketeers often complain about how changes brought about by big government projects create problems no one foresaw. The same can happen with non-government projects, as cities have witnessed with the ride-hailing revolution: it's making urban traffic worse, not better. Eliot Brown reports in the Wall Street Journal.

"A mounting collection of studies shows that far from easing traffic, Uber and its main rival Lyft, Inc. are adding to congestion in numerous U.S. downtowns.

"The app makers initially thought their technology would create seamless trips,with four strangers forsaking their own cars for a shared ride. Cutting-edge algorithms, they relieved,would steer behavior through pricing and route-matching, letting drivers spend little time between trips. Riders leaving their homes would then increasingly hop on buses, bikes, "or walk in a gridlock-easing ripple effect.

"That utopia hasn't come to pass.

"Most users take their own private Lyfts and Ubers, shunning pooling even though it costs them more.  Rather than the apps becoming a model of algorithm-driven efficiency, drivers in major cities cruise for fares  without passengers an estimated 40% of the time.

"Multiple studies show that Uber and Lyft have pulled people away from buses, subways, and walking, and that the apps add to the overall amount of driving in the U.S."

This article originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Read the whole thing (behind paywall) here.

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