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Traffic Fiasco at Uber Employee Party Highlights Why Ride-Hailing Is Awful for Cities

The absurdity of the the ride-hailing model, in which everyone who possibly can takes a car to urban destinations, was laid bare during a disastrous Uber employee appreciation party Monday night at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry in the dense Hyde Park neighborhood.
Traffic Fiasco at Uber Employee Party Highlights Why Ride-Hailing Is Awful for Cities
The Museum of Science and Industry. Image: Google Maps

The absurdity of the the ride-hailing model, in which everyone who possibly can takes a car to urban destinations, was laid bare during a disastrous Uber employee appreciation party Monday night at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry in the dense Hyde Park neighborhood. As reported by the Chicago Tribune’s Alice Yin, the ride-hailing company hosted the shindig at 6:30 p.m.

John Morrison, who had been invited to the party by a friend who drives for Uber, said he saw got stuck in a massive traffic jam of cars with ride-hailing decals in east Hyde Park on his way to the event. A location where 57th Street and Cornell Drive merge was complete chaos, he said, because some drivers were going the wrong way and were facing other motorists bumper-to-bumper.

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But, hey, encouraging people to take transit instead of cars wouldn’t be in keeping with Uber’s (completely unsustainable) business model, would it?

Photo of John Greenfield
In addition to editing Streetsblog Chicago, John writes the transportation column for the Chicago Reader weekly paper. A Chicagoan since 1989, he enjoys exploring the city on foot, bike, bus, and 'L' train.

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