#ridesharing

A new study is punching a hole in another of Uber and Lyft’s promised benefits: curtailing pollution. The companies have long insisted their services are a boon to the environment in part because they reduce the need for short trips, can pool riders heading in roughly the same direction and cut unnecessary miles by, for instance, eliminating the need to look for street parking.

It turns out that Uber rides do spare the air from the high amount of pollutants emitted from starting up a cold vehicle, when it is operating less efficiently, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University found. But that gain is wiped out by the need for drivers to circle around waiting for or fetching their next passenger, known as deadheading. Deadheading, Lyft and Uber estimated in 2019, is equal to about 40 percent of rideshare miles driven in six American cities. The researchers at Carnegie Mellon estimated that driving without a passenger leads to a roughly 20 percent overall increase in fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions compared to trips made by personal vehicles.

Ride sharing can become a cheaper and also greener way to travel. Indeed, you must have heard of Uber or Blablacar. Well, in this article, we take care of analyzing some of the best apps available to share a car or find people with whom to share a ride.

Although the social component of ride sharing should not be underestimated, it is primarily about getting from A to B cheaply, which is an important argument not only for students. Because if you miss one of the inexpensive super-saver tickets from the train, a trip in the car pool is almost always the cheaper alternative. With the right ride sharing app on your mobile phone, you can reserve the right trip today with just a few finger touches.

Uber will bring its popular ridesharing app to the roads of the Halifax Regional Municipality this week.

In a press release, the tech giant said its app will launch on Thursday at 1 p.m. AT., in order to help “enable essential travel.”

“Uber, a company that moves people, is asking you not to move,” said Matthew Price, general manager of Uber Canada, in a statement.

“Once restrictions ease, we look forward to supporting Halifax’s recovery and growth.”

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California, which has one of the most expansive systems of ballot initiatives and referenda in the nation, played home to several major progressive defeats. Leading the pack was Proposition 16, which asked Californians to repeal the state's constitutional ban on the use of affirmative action in government, including in public college admissions, and which earned the endorsement of national Democrats, including vice presidential hopeful Kamala Harris. But California voters Wednesday conclusively defeated the measure, with 56 percent opposed.

Californians similarly signaled their opposition to further criminal justice "reform," with a majority as of Wednesday having rejected a proposal that previously passed the state legislature and would eliminate cash bail in the state and replace it with judges' assessments of risk, including a standard release for those convicted of misdemeanor offenses. And voters also backed Proposition 22, which would permit rideshare drivers to be treated as independent contractors—a blow to the state's restrictive regime for gig workers.

Beyond the Golden State, Illinois voters trounced a proposed "fair tax," a major blow to billionaire governor J.B. Pritzker, who spent $60 million campaigning to overturn the provision in Illinois's constitution that prohibits a graduated income tax. Voters in Massachusetts, meanwhile, rejected a proposal to transition to a "ranked-choice voting" system of the sort favored by progressives, while Floridians approved a $15 minimum wage but rejected a top-two runoff system.

Tuesday also gave voters in two states a chance to sound off on abortion, an increasingly important issue as a conservative majority on the Supreme Court raises the possibility of the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Voters in Colorado rejected a ban on abortions after 22 weeks, but Louisianans approved a proposal that adds language to the state constitution explicitly stating that there is no legal right to an abortion.

Progressive priorities did enjoy one major victory on Tuesday evening, as advocates of drug decriminalization and legalization scored decisive wins across the country. Oregon became the first state in the union to explicitly decriminalize small possession of all hard drugs, including methamphetamine and heroin, while the District of Columbia decriminalized certain psychedelic plants.