Uber overtakes taxis in battle for business travelers

Nancy Trejos | USA TODAY

Business travelers are embracing the sharing economy, increasingly opting for Uber and Airbnb over taxis and hotels, a new report released today shows.

Uber has overtaken taxis as a preferred mode of transportation among road warriors in Q2, according to Certify's analysis of second-quarter expense reports. Certify examined millions of receipts from April to June from the companies it helps to track expense accounts.

While still small in terms of market share among business travelers, Airbnb, which specializes in online room rentals, had a 143% growth in receipts over the first quarter of the year.

"It's clear that the sharing economy is here to stay for business people," says Robert Neveu, CEO of Certify, a travel and expense management software provider. "We believe this market shift is based on both convenience and price, since these newer services are typically more cost-effective compared with traditional vendors. Established travel providers will need to adapt quickly or face further market share erosion to the sharing economy."

In the second quarter of 2015, 31% of ground transportation receipts were from Uber, 24% from taxis, and 45% from rental cars.

Last year at the same time, Uber accounted for 8% of receipts, taxis 37% and rental cars 55%.

If you take rental cars out of the equation, Uber made up 55% of receipts vs. 43% for taxis in Q2 2015. Lyft and other rideshare services accounted for the rest of the expenses.

While still a small percentage of receipts, Lyft is gaining ground with a 153% gain in ridership over the first quarter of this year.

The report concludes that one possible factor contributing to the growing popularity of ridesharing is the price.

Companies such as Uber usually offer lower fares. The average cost per ride for Lyft, Uber and taxis is $22.51, $30.03 and $34.48, respectively, the report found.

Reviews for ridesharing services also tend to be more positive than for taxis and rental cars. Lyft earned higher marks than Uber, according to the report.

Chicago, Miami and San Francisco had the largest gains in ridesharing.

In San Francisco, for instance, Uber rides comprised 79% of total rides, up from 71% the previous quarter.

"Some cities are seeing adoption rates significantly higher rate than others due to a number of factors," the report found. "Simple availability can be an issue for these companies as they struggle to keep up with the pace of expansion into new markets."

Business travelers are also turning to Airbnb in larger numbers, and when they do, they stay longer.

Airbnb had a 143% gain in receipts in the second quarter from the first quarter of the year.

On average, travelers stay at an Airbnb 3.8 nights per trips and spend $571.53. They tend to spend 2.12 nights on average at hotels at a cost of $222.55.

The top five cities for Airbnb are: San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Miami and Tampa. Airbnb earned more positive reviews from business travelers than hotels did, the report shows.

In other categories, business travelers spent the most money at Starbucks, McDonald's, Subway, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Marriott, Hampton Inn, National and Enterprise.