Sharing Economy
Ride Share to Home Share
The previous questions explored mayors’ perceived capacity to influence economic development through their relationships and partnerships with business leaders. They also can impact their city’s economy via regulation. The sharing economy is one rapidly evolving arena in which cities are employing a variety of regulatory responses.
Mayors say the sharing economy has been positive for their cities, though some worry about home-sharing services such as Airbnb. Mayors almost universally report that ride- and bike-sharing services have had positive impacts on their cities. Fewer have assessments of car-sharing services, in part because they were less prevalent across cities or had a smaller presence. For all three services, very few mayors say the impact is negative. Home-sharing services like Airbnb receive the fewest positive assessments and raise the most concerns. While about 45 percent of mayors say the impact of home-sharing services is positive, about 20 percent say the impact is negative or very negative. The sentiment that home-sharing is more worrisome to constituents than ride-sharing was common. Indicative of this idea, and of the need to discuss them separately, one southern mayor, referring to high-income residents, says, “they probably use Uber all the time, but also probably have an Airbnb near them that they hate.”
Table 2: Effect of Sharing Economy Services
Have each of the following “sharing economy” services had a positive or negative effect on your city?
(Table Note: Excludes mayors who responded that the service is not available in their city.)
Ride share (e.g., Uber) |
Car share (e.g., Zipcar) |
Bike share | Home share (e.g., Airbnb) |
|
---|---|---|---|---|
Extremely positive | 42% | 13% | 41% | 9% |
Somewhat positive | 47% | 42% | 38% | 36% |
Neither positive nor negative | 9% | 38% | 12% | 34% |
Somewhat negative | 2% | 2% | 6% | 17% |
Extremely negative | 0% | 6% | 3% | 3% |
Number of cities | 107 | 53 | 68 | 99 |
Few mayors indicate concerns about equity and the sharing economy. Mayors said that these positive sharing economy effects are spread across a variety of groups in their cities. A majority believed that the sharing economy had a positive effect across all income levels, for residents of color, and for the business community. A few worried about negative effects on residents of color, and low-income residents. In general, mayors saw the sharing economy as a positive force for groups that are often excluded from other opportunities.
Figure 13: Effect of Sharing Economy Services on Different Groups
How much have “sharing economy” services in your city affected each of the following groups?