Chicago boasts cheapest Uber fares

ChicagoInno has compared UberX rates across the country and reports that Chicago is the most affordable city in the nation to use the ride-providing service. For a ten mile, twenty minute trip, a passenger in Chicago pays $14.70, versus the national average of $22.74. That’s an $8.04 difference, or 35%. Makes me feel even better about taking Uber in Chicago!

Just for kicks, I also calculated what it would cost to take that same ride in one of our city’s fine taxi cabs. The answer? Nearly double the price of Uber, or $27.85. Here’s how the math breaks down:

UberX and Taxi rates in Chicago, as published by Uber.com and City of Chicago Chicago Business Affairs & Consumer Protection Department. 

Unfortunately, in my hometown of Kansas City, the same ride will cost you $29.75, making it the seventh most costly locale to take that trip (not sure what it would cost to take the same ride in a cab there). KC is one of Uber’s newer markets, I believe, so that’ll change no doubt as more drivers come on the scene and even out the supply-demand situation there.

The Chicago Tribune picked up the story, and interviewed a local cab industry representative for a response. In hilarious and telling fashion, Peter Ali Enger actually says the low local taxi rates are the reason for Uber’s low fares… but that his cab council has been trying to raise those rates for seven years. 

So while Uber brags about delivering the cheapest possible rates, the cab industry complains that it can’t raise the price you pay even higher. That tells you just about all you need to know as far as why Uber has been killing it the last couple years against the taxi cab companies.

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