Rideshare in Massachusetts

In August 2016, Governor Baker signed legislation related to ridesharing companies, also known as transportation network companies (TNCs). Part of that legislation helped Massachusetts start collecting data about ridesharing service from TNCs. Below, you’ll find an interactive summary of the data. You can also explore how people in your city or town are using rideshare services and learn how population density, age, and other factors impact rideshare activity. The data behind the summary is also available for download ↓.


Data Source: Department of Public Utilities (DPU)

Total Rides and Rides Per Person

In 2017 there were approximately 64.8 million rideshare trips started in Massachusetts. Ride sharing services are just part of the transportation picture in Massachusetts. For context, there were more than 408 million public transit trips in the Commonwealth last year. These numbers, and the following breakdown, put TNC use into perspective:

  • A total of 34.9 million rides originated in Boston, which is the most of any city or town. This is roughly five times the next highest municipality, Cambridge, with just more than 6.8 million.
  • Of the rides that started in Boston, 1.8 million were out of Boston Logan International Airport.see footnote[1]
  • Suffolk and Middlesex Counties were the starting points for more than 80% of all trips in the state. They were also two of the top three counties in per person rides along with Nantucket.
  • Hampshire County has the highest rides started per person outside of the Cape and Islands and Greater Boston.see footnote[2]
  • While percentages aren’t confirmed, TNCs reported that as many as one-third of trips involve more than one person sharing a vehicle.

Total Trips Started by Municipality

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Total Destination Trips by Municipality

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Total Trips Started Per Person by Municipality

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Table of Total Trips Started and Trips Started Per Person by Municipality

Click the column headings to sort the table by municipality, trips started, or trips started per person. You can also use the search bar to look for your city or town, and navigate to other pages using the “Previous” and “Next” buttons at the bottom of the table.

Municipality
Trips started
Trips started per person
BOSTON
34,911,476
56.53
CAMBRIDGE
6,782,366
64.49
SOMERVILLE
2,727,951
36.01
BROOKLINE
2,074,425
35.32
NEWTON
1,051,030
12.34
MEDFORD
966,710
17.21
QUINCY
957,311
10.37
MALDEN
906,043
15.24
WORCESTER
848,943
4.69
EVERETT
775,773
18.62
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Table of Total Trips Started and Trips Started Per Person by County

Click the column headings to sort the table by county, trips started, or trips started per person.

    County
    Trips started
    Trips started per person
    SUFFOLK
    36,394,048
    50.41
    MIDDLESEX
    17,321,355
    11.52
    NORFOLK
    4,732,725
    7.05
    ESSEX
    2,319,844
    3.12
    WORCESTER
    1,213,440
    1.52
    PLYMOUTH
    715,845
    1.45
    HAMPDEN
    664,197
    1.43
    HAMPSHIRE
    424,505
    2.69
    BRISTOL
    365,063
    0.67
    BARNSTABLE
    341,794
    1.58
    NANTUCKET
    184,136
    18.1
    DUKES
    93,818
    5.67
    BERKSHIRE
    16,871
    0.13
    FRANKLIN
    9,883
    0.14
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    Speed and Length of Trips

    • The average ride in Massachusetts lasts 15.4 minutes and travels 4.5 miles at 17.7 miles per hour.
    • The fastest trips tend to happen in Central and Western Massachusetts. Of the 10 municipalities with the fastest average trip speeds, nine are found in these regions.
    • The five cities that originate the slowest trips are Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville, Everett, and Boston. They all have average trip speeds between 14 and 16 miles per hour. These are five of the eight most densely populated municipalities in Massachusetts. For comparison, half of all municipalities had an average speed of 30 miles per hour or greater.

    Rideshare Speed by Municipalitysee footnote[4]

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    Correlated Factors in Trips Per Person

    Age, Population Density, and Rideshare Trips in Greater Bostonsee footnote[5]

    How to read this chart: Each bubble on the chart represents an individual city or town. The x axis shows population density, and the y axis shows trips started per person. The color of the bubble shows the percentage of that municipality’s population between the ages of 18-24. The darker the bubble, the higher the percentage of the population in that age range. Scroll over individual bubbles to get detailed information about specific cities or towns.

    05101520020406080Trips Started Per Person
    Pecentage of Age 18–24

    4% - 5%
    5% - 6%
    6% - 7%
    7% - 8%
    8% - 10%
    10% - 13%
    13% - 21%

    Footnotes

    1. Data provided by Boston Logan International Airport.
    2. For the purpose of this data report, Greater Boston is defined as the 46 cities and towns that touch or are contained within the Interstate 95 corridor, are north of Norwell and Scituate, and south of Danvers and Beverly.
    3. Population data to determine per person rates are from the,[object Object], ,published by the U.S. Census Bureau.,
    4. Average ride time and distance based on 99.87% of the aggregated ride share trips.
    5. Population density and age data are from the 2010 American Community Survey published by the U.S. Census Bureau.
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