IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecotra/v32y2022ics2212012222000351.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An analysis of labor regulations for transportation network companies

Author

Listed:
  • Shetty, Akhil
  • Li, Sen
  • Tavafoghi, Hamidreza
  • Qin, Junjie
  • Poolla, Kameshwar
  • Varaiya, Pravin

Abstract

There is a growing movement worldwide to regulate transportation network companies (TNCs) such as Uber and Lyft. This is driven by concerns over low driver wages. Two recent labor regulations that were passed in California are Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) and Proposition 22 (Prop 22). AB5 classifies drivers (and other gig-economy workers) as employees as opposed to contractors. The implication is that ride-hailing companies must pay drivers a minimum wage and associated benefits, and that the drivers work full-time. This negatively impacts the TNC business model in two ways: (a) wage effect: higher wages and benefits reduce profit margins significantly, and (b) flexibility effect: having a base of full time drivers reduces the ability of TNCs like Uber and Lyft to match driver supply to customer demand on a fine temporal scale. As an alternative, TNCs lobbied fiercely for Prop 22. This regulation offers drivers 120% of minimum wage, but only for driving hours spent servicing a trip (engaged time).

Suggested Citation

  • Shetty, Akhil & Li, Sen & Tavafoghi, Hamidreza & Qin, Junjie & Poolla, Kameshwar & Varaiya, Pravin, 2022. "An analysis of labor regulations for transportation network companies," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecotra:v:32:y:2022:i:c:s2212012222000351
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecotra.2022.100284
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212012222000351
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecotra.2022.100284?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. M. Keith Chen & Judith A. Chevalier & Peter E. Rossi & Emily Oehlsen, 2019. "The Value of Flexible Work: Evidence from Uber Drivers," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(6), pages 2735-2794.
    2. Gérard P. Cachon & Kaitlin M. Daniels & Ruben Lobel, 2017. "The Role of Surge Pricing on a Service Platform with Self-Scheduling Capacity," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 368-384, July.
    3. Colin Camerer & Linda Babcock & George Loewenstein & Richard Thaler, 1997. "Labor Supply of New York City Cabdrivers: One Day at a Time," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 407-441.
    4. Lichter, Andreas & Peichl, Andreas & Siegloch, Sebastian, 2015. "The own-wage elasticity of labor demand: A meta-regression analysis," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 94-119.
    5. Zhang, Kenan & Nie, Yu (Marco), 2021. "Inter-platform competition in a regulated ride-hail market with pooling," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    6. Li, Sen & Tavafoghi, Hamidreza & Poolla, Kameshwar & Varaiya, Pravin, 2019. "Regulating TNCs: Should Uber and Lyft set their own rules?," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 193-225.
    7. Li, Sen & Poolla, Kameshwar & Varaiya, Pravin, 2021. "Impact of congestion charge and minimum wage on TNCs: A case study for San Francisco," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 237-261.
    8. Ke, Jintao & Li, Xinwei & Yang, Hai & Yin, Yafeng, 2021. "Pareto-efficient solutions and regulations of congested ride-sourcing markets with heterogeneous demand and supply," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    9. Zhang, Kenan & Nie, Yu (Marco), 2021. "To pool or not to pool: Equilibrium, pricing and regulation," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 59-90.
    10. Jonathan V. Hall & Alan B. Krueger, 2015. "An Analysis of the Labor Market for Uber's Driver-Partners in the United States," Working Papers 587, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    11. Chiwei Yan & Helin Zhu & Nikita Korolko & Dawn Woodard, 2020. "Dynamic pricing and matching in ride‐hailing platforms," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 67(8), pages 705-724, December.
    12. Dong, Tingting & Xu, Zhengtian & Luo, Qi & Yin, Yafeng & Wang, Jian & Ye, Jieping, 2021. "Optimal contract design for ride-sourcing services under dual sourcing," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 289-313.
    13. Zhang, Kenan & Nie, Yu (Marco), 2022. "Mitigating traffic congestion induced by transportation network companies: A policy analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 96-118.
    14. Li, Sen & Yang, Hai & Poolla, Kameshwar & Varaiya, Pravin, 2021. "Spatial pricing in ride-sourcing markets under a congestion charge," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 18-45.
    15. Ke, Jintao & Cen, Xuekai & Yang, Hai & Chen, Xiqun & Ye, Jieping, 2019. "Modelling drivers’ working and recharging schedules in a ride-sourcing market with electric vehicles and gasoline vehicles," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 160-180.
    16. Reich, Michael, 2020. "Pay, Passengers and Profits: Effects of Employee Status for California TNC Drivers," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt86s4249x, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    17. Yiwei Chen & Ming Hu, 2020. "Pricing and Matching with Forward-Looking Buyers and Sellers," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(4), pages 717-734, July.
    18. Wang, Hai & Yang, Hai, 2019. "Ridesourcing systems: A framework and review," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 122-155.
    19. Arnott, Richard, 1996. "Taxi Travel Should Be Subsidized," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 316-333, November.
    20. Sen Li & Kameshwar Poolla & Pravin Varaiya, 2020. "Impact of Congestion Charge and Minimum Wage on TNCs: A Case Study for San Francisco," Papers 2003.02550, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2021.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jing Gao & Sen Li, 2023. "Regulating For-Hire Autonomous Vehicles for An Equitable Multimodal Transportation Network," Papers 2301.05798, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2023.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liu, Yang & Li, Sen, 2023. "An economic analysis of on-demand food delivery platforms: Impacts of regulations and integration with ride-sourcing platforms," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    2. Zhang, Kenan & Nie, Yu (Marco), 2022. "Mitigating traffic congestion induced by transportation network companies: A policy analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 96-118.
    3. Di Ao & Jing Gao & Zhijie Lai & Sen Li, 2021. "Regulating Transportation Network Companies with a Mixture of Autonomous Vehicles and For-Hire Human Drivers," Papers 2112.07218, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2023.
    4. Ke, Jintao & Chen, Xiqun (Michael) & Yang, Hai & Li, Sen, 2022. "Coordinating supply and demand in ride-sourcing markets with pre-assigned pooling service and traffic congestion externality," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    5. Ke, Jintao & Li, Xinwei & Yang, Hai & Yin, Yafeng, 2021. "Pareto-efficient solutions and regulations of congested ride-sourcing markets with heterogeneous demand and supply," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    6. Li, Manzi & Jiang, Gege & Lo, Hong K., 2022. "Pricing strategy of ride-sourcing services under travel time variability," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    7. Li, Sen & Poolla, Kameshwar & Varaiya, Pravin, 2021. "Impact of congestion charge and minimum wage on TNCs: A case study for San Francisco," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 237-261.
    8. Jing Gao & Sen Li, 2023. "Regulating For-Hire Autonomous Vehicles for An Equitable Multimodal Transportation Network," Papers 2301.05798, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2023.
    9. Liang, Yuan & Yu, Bingjie & Zhang, Xiaojian & Lu, Yi & Yang, Linchuan, 2023. "The short-term impact of congestion taxes on ridesourcing demand and traffic congestion: Evidence from Chicago," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    10. Wang, Wei & Miao, Wei & Liu, Yongdong & Deng, Yiting & Cao, Yunfei, 2022. "The impact of COVID-19 on the ride-sharing industry and its recovery: Causal evidence from China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 128-141.
    11. Zhong, Yuanguang & Lan, Yibo & Chen, Zhi & Yang, Jiazi, 2023. "On-demand ride-hailing platforms with heterogeneous quality-sensitive customers: Dedicated system or pooling system?," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 247-266.
    12. Sen Li & Kameshwar Poolla & Pravin Varaiya, 2020. "Impact of Congestion Charge and Minimum Wage on TNCs: A Case Study for San Francisco," Papers 2003.02550, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2021.
    13. Dong, Tingting & Xu, Zhengtian & Luo, Qi & Yin, Yafeng & Wang, Jian & Ye, Jieping, 2021. "Optimal contract design for ride-sourcing services under dual sourcing," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 289-313.
    14. Ke, Jintao & Yang, Hai & Li, Xinwei & Wang, Hai & Ye, Jieping, 2020. "Pricing and equilibrium in on-demand ride-pooling markets," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 411-431.
    15. Mo, Dong & Chen, Xiqun (Michael) & Zhang, Junlin, 2022. "Modeling and Managing Mixed On-Demand Ride Services of Human-Driven Vehicles and Autonomous Vehicles," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 80-119.
    16. Yuan Liang & Bingjie Yu & Xiaojian Zhang & Yi Lu & Linchuan Yang, 2022. "The Short-term Impact of Congestion Taxes on Ridesourcing Demand and Traffic Congestion: Evidence from Chicago," Papers 2207.01793, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2023.
    17. Li, Manzi & Jiang, Gege & Lo, Hong K., 2023. "Optimal cancellation penalty for competing ride-sourcing platforms under waiting time uncertainty," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    18. Wang, Hai & Yang, Hai, 2019. "Ridesourcing systems: A framework and review," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 122-155.
    19. Yang, Jie & Zhao, Daozhi & Wang, Zeyu & Xu, Chunqiu, 2022. "Impact of regulation on on-demand ride-sharing service: Profit-based target vs demand-based target," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    20. Shi, Junxin & Li, Xiangyong & Aneja, Y.P. & Li, Xiaonan, 2023. "Ride-matching for the ride-hailing platform with heterogeneous drivers," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 169-192.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecotra:v:32:y:2022:i:c:s2212012222000351. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecotra .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.