Lyft Is Reaching L.A. Neighborhoods Where Taxis Wouldn’t

In the eight short years since the first “UberCab” pick-up in San Francisco, ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft have upturned old transportation networks and created unprecedented demand for travel.

But have their benefits extended to communities long left behind by the taxi industry, and that need car services most? For decades, racial discrimination by cab drivers has left black riders, in particular, waiting longer for pick-ups, having their destinations refused, and flat-out ignored, studies show; a 2013 investigation in Washington, D.C., found taxis were 25 percent less likely to pick up a black rider than a white rider. This plays out on a spatial level—outer-urban neighborhoods that are predominantly home to people of color are often “redlined” by taxi companies, for various reasons. Earlier research has shown some of the same practices persist in the new apps.