The quantity of cell phone applications or mobile apps have seen an upsurge at an exponential rate in under a decade. Many have been created for a variety of industries, including transportation. The advent and subsequent commercialized implementation of near-instant transport by a middleman-type of app is now known as a Transportation Network Company or TNC. Examples of the more renowned TNCs are Uber, Lyft and Sidecar. In recent years, TNCs have cultivated a tremendous following, to the degree of taxicab desertion. Moreover, the massive success of TNCs led to expansion of its capacities into public transportation. The TNC’s expeditious popularity has garnered the attention of government and transit agencies. Without fail, TNCs can complement, supplement or compete with transit. However, sparsely has there been any deep discussion about a TNC potentially supplanting transit. The aim of this paper is to show how TNCs could replace public transportation in the United States if subsidized at the same level of transit agencies. Austin, Texas was analyzed as the case study city. A comparison of subsidization between Austin’s transit agency: Cap Metro, the local TNCs, and on a national aggregate level was conducted. The evidence herein clearly shows that TNCs are highly competitive when in revenue service operating at full capacity, potentially replacing public transportation.

Ride-sourcing is a digital transportation service that has seen a considerable growth in the last half decade especially in the biggest cities around the world. More and more digital platforms for ride-sourcing has emerged since its inception. This study compares the two ride-sourcing applications available in Stockholm— Uber and Heetch, using a combined method of measuring desirability and usability to analyze which factors influence a user’s choice of app. The results showed Uber to have better desirability and usability, and 14 out of the 16 participants chose Uber as their preferred ride-sourcing app. / Samåkningstjänster är en digital transporttjänst som har haft en betydande tillväxt under det senaste halvdecenniet och allt fler digitala plattformar för samåkningstjänster har tillkommit sedan dess uppkomst, särskilt i de största städerna runt om i världen. Denna studie jämför två samåkningstjänster tillgängliga i Stockholm: Uber och Heetch, med en kombinerad metod genom att undersöka önskvärda aspekter och användbarhet för analys av användarnas val av applikation. Resultatet visade att Uber hade bättre önskvärda aspekter och användbarhet, och 14 av 16 deltagande valde Uber som sin föredragna applikation