24 August 2017 (Waterloo) – The debate on Uber and other “sharing economy” services has taken a new turn. A new survey finds that a majority globally (63%) believe that ridesharing services should be regulated similar to taxis. This comes at a time when Uber, Lyft and other ridesharing apps continue to expand their products and services to new markets around the world.
“Ridesharing apps owe their success to the power of the Internet and its ability to reach new markets around the world,” said Fen Osler Hampson, Distinguished Fellow and Director of the Global Security & Politics program at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). “The results from this year’s global survey send ride-sharing giants such as Uber a clear message about the need to work with governments to develop responsible and comprehensive regulation.”
The survey also points out that the number of those likely to choose ride-sharing over taxi services is notably higher in emerging economies such as Brazil, India, and China (37%), Latin America (36%) and the Middle East and North Africa (31%). The warmer embrace of ride sharing technologies by citizens in emerging economies could very well be attributed to less well developed traditional taxi systems.
“Citizens in emerging economies are generally more drawn to ride-sharing applications than those in developed countries”, said CIGI Senior Fellow Eric Jardine. “Despite these differences, one thing that most people from most countries can agree on is that self-regulation by ride-sharing programs is not enough. Governments have a clear role to play.”
The survey of 24,225 Internet users was conducted by global research company Ipsos, on behalf of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) between December 23, 2016, and March 21, 2017. The survey was conducted in 24 countries—Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong (China), India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Republic of Korea, South Africa, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.
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For more information and to see additional data collected as part of the 2017 CIGI-Ipsos Global Survey on Internet Security and Trust, please visit: www.cigionline.org/internet-survey
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CIGI would like to recognize and thank the following sponsors for their generous support which facilitated the work of the Global Survey on one of the most pressing global public policy issues of our time, Internet governance: International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Internet Society (ISOC), and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
