There has been concern across the sharing economy for some time that racism is an ever-present part of the community.  Airbnb, for instance, have noticed that both black hosts and black guests get treated differently to white hosts and guests.

New research from Indiana University highlights how the same is true when it comes to ride sharing.  This is not a new issue, and after initial findings of biased behavior from drivers, the ride-sharing companies began to remove information that would indicate the gender and race of the rider from their initial request.

As research into resumes has shown, however, one’s race is often easily determined from things such as our name, so the Indiana study shows that such discrimination has continued, especially after the ride request was requested, at which point information became more visible.

It suggests that the discriminatory behavior largely shifted until after the ride was confirmed, which manifested itself in higher cancellation rates for those rides.

“Our results confirm that bias at the ride request stage has been removed. However, after ride acceptance, racial and LGBT biases are persistent, while we found no evidence of gender biases,” the researchers say.  “We show that signaling support for a social cause—in our case, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community—can also impact service provision. Riders who show support for the LGBT community, regardless of race or gender, also experience significantly higher cancellation rates.”

Unequal rides

The researchers conducted a field experiment in autumn 2018 in Washington, DC, where they randomly manipulated rider names by using names traditionally perceived to be white or Black.  The aim was to monitor driver behavior patterns in terms of accepting and canceling rides.  They also indicated support for LGBT rights by overlaying a rainbow filter on the rider’s profile picture.

“We found that underrepresented minorities are more than twice as likely to have a ride canceled than Caucasians; that’s about 3% versus 8%,” the researchers say. “There was no evidence of gender bias.”

The researchers also varied the times of each ride request to try and make sure peak/off peak times weren’t influencing matters.  The data showed that the higher fares available at peak times appeared to limit the discrimination on display, albeit not for those who pledged support for the LGBT community.

Creating a fair platform

The researchers hope that their findings can further inform efforts by the ride-sharing platforms to better crack down on any discrimination against riders.  This could, they suggest, result in drivers being punished for biased cancellation behavior.  Given the challenges this presents to the platforms, however, they believe it might ultimately require policymakers to get involved.

“Investments in reducing bias may not occur organically, as ride-sharing platforms are trying to maximize the number of participants in the platform—they want to attract both riders and drivers,” they explain.  “As a result, it may be necessary for policymakers to mandate what information can be provided to a driver to ensure an unbiased experience, while maintaining the safety of everyone involved, or to create policies that require ride-sharing platforms to monitor and remove drivers based on biased behavior.”

The sharing economy is still relatively new, and these kind of kinks are still being identified and ironed out.  The research does a good job of showcasing the biases that still exist, and hopefully the platforms and policymakers will begin to address them to ensure that ride sharing is a fair and equitable endeavor.