Uber dominated SFO rides in 2014-15, report finds

Uber drivers wait for ride orders near San Francisco International Airport last year. Uber drivers wait for ride orders near San Francisco International Airport last year. Photo: Brandon Chew, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Brandon Chew, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Uber dominated SFO rides in 2014-15, report finds 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

Newly released audits from San Francisco’s Office of the Controller shed light on the presence of Uber and Lyft at San Francisco International Airport, showing that the two services experienced breakneck growth at the airport from late 2014 to 2015. Uber dominated Lyft, with almost seven times more rides.

The reports look at the 12 months through September 2015. The ride companies gained legal permission to operate at the airport in late October 2014. At the time, they said they would begin SFO operations within 30 days, although drivers were already unofficially providing many drop-offs and some pickups at the airport.

Over the 12 months, ride-hailing companies tripled the number of trips they provided to and from SFO. In October 2014 — before they were legally allowed to operate at the airport — they provided 101,205 rides. Almost 90 percent of them were drop-offs. In September 2015, app-hailed rides accounted for 319,736 SFO rides, with 58 percent of them dropping off passengers.

During the 12-month period, Uber drivers gave 2.2 million rides to and from SFO, the audit said. That was 6.7 times more than Lyft, which provided 329,262 rides. Wingz, a small San Francisco startup focused entirely on airport rides in personal cars, tallied 8,930 rides.

Harry Campbell, who drives for Uber and Lyft and runs the Rideshare Guy blog and podcast, said Uber’s brand visibility across the country and world may account for its airport dominance. “For travelers coming into the city, their default at home is probably Uber, so when they arrive at SFO, they might opt for Uber,” he said.

“This data is old,” said Lyft spokeswoman Alexandra LaManna. “As has been widely reported, we have consistently been taking share from Uber over the past year, and our actual market share in the city of San Francisco is nearly three times what this data shows. “

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Uber spokeswoman Eva Behrend said Uber’s focus on improving the ride experience has fueled its success. “We have seen travelers embrace ride sharing at SFO since our launch nearly two years ago,” she said in a statement.

Lyft and Uber have a deep-seated rivalry, with their hometown of San Francisco a prime battleground. Although Uber has a larger market share here — as it does in all the cities where both companies operate — it’s unlikely that the sevenfold difference from the SFO report accurately reflects the companies’ relative sizes here. In April, Bloomberg said Lyft claimed a 43 percent market share in San Francisco, while Uber said it had 66 percent of the market in March.

Leaked investor reports have shown that Lyft experienced strong growth nationwide this summer. Recode reported that its 13.9 million trips in July were up 12 percent from June. That same month, Uber said that it recorded 62 million trips in the U.S., up 15 percent from the previous month. Almost two-thirds of Uber’s business is overseas, where Lyft does not offer service, so globally, it is far bigger.

The controller’s office audited SFO’s revenue from rides, which is $3.85 per ride-hailing trip. (Vans and other services pay different fees.) The city found that Lyft had underreported the number of its trips, but otherwise complied with all requirements. Wingz also underreported its trips and did not comply with vehicle inspection and background check requirements for drivers with commercial licenses, the report said. Uber correctly reported all its trips and complied with all requirements, the report said.

Passengers during the 12 months took 6.8 million paid ground-transportation trips, the report said — but that includes only taxi pickups, not drop-offs. Of the 6.8 million, 38 percent were with Uber, Lyft and Wingz, counting both drop-offs and pickups.

Limos, courtesy shuttles, vans and charter services accounted for the rest.

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com