Uber and Lyft took 52% of US business transit expenses in Q3
Ride-hail made up the majority of ground transport expenses for North American business travellers for the first time in Q3, according to Venturebeat, citing figures from travel and expenses management firm, Certify, which analysed over 10 million travellers' receipts and expenses. The number rose from 48.7% in Q2. Uber continued to dominate with a 48% of the transactions while Lyft accounted for 4%; in contrast, taxi receipts and expenses fell by over 63% since Q1. Average costs to business travellers using Uber and taxis also dropped by roughly 10% QoQ whereas Lyft's rose almost 5% to $21.80.

Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.

Another quarter has passed and Uber and Lyft have once again become the preferred method of transportation for business travelers. According to Q3 2016 numbers released by online travel and expense management service provider Certify, 52 percent of those using transit for work-related purposes opted to use a ride-hailing service. This is the first time that ride hailing has made up the majority of the ground transportation expenses for business travelers.

Last quarter, ride hailing made up 48.7 percent of business expenses.

While ride hailing has become quite popular, Uber continues to dominate market share with 75 percent of travelers over Lyft’s 6 percent, when taxis are factored in. Taxi ridership continues to decline, dropping more than 3 percentage points sequentially.

Image Credit: Screenshot

“Of all the disruptive technologies to come out of the sharing economy over the past several years, nothing has captured the interest of businesspeople or captured more headlines in the media than Uber and the global rise of ride hailing,” said Robert Neveu, Certify’s chief executive in a statement. “Tracking at 52 percent of the ground transportation total in the third quarter, it’s remarkable to see that ride hailing is now more frequently expensed by business travelers than taxi and car rental combined, and more popular than taxi at anytime during the three years Certify has been reporting on this data.”

For the most part, the average cost for business travelers also went down. Certify stated that it saw costs for Uber drop 10 percent to $22.91, while taxis fell 9.77 percent to $35.91 quarter over quarter. Lyft, however, saw the average cost rise nearly 5 percent to $21.80 during the same time period.

San Francisco was the top city for Uber and Lyft usage in Q3, while taxis were preferred in New York City.

Certify analyzed more than 10 million business traveler receipts and expenses to ascertain the preference of those traveling for work in North America.