Reference no: EM133035519

Describe the economics of the urban transportation ecosystem as it exists in cities like San Jose or San Francisco.

• What are the key modes of transit? (Take a broad view of potential transit options.)
• For each transit mode, who are the key players in the market, on both the demand side and the supply side? What is the market structure- perfect competition, monopolistic competition, monopoly, or oligopoly? Are there barriers to entry? How does government play a role in each market?
• How did the entry of ridesharing services/ platforms like Uber and Lyft affect the various incumbent players in the transit markets?
• Economists define market failures as cases in which the unregulated market fails to achieve efficiency (maximize total surplus). Are there market failures associated with urban transit markets? If so, what are they? Have they been made better or worse by the entry of ridesharing services?

Consider the economics of ridesharing platforms like Uber and Lyft.

• What are distinctive features of two-sided markets such as ridesharing?
• What are network externalities and how do they play a role in the ridesharing market?
• In many places, Uber and Lyft operate as a duopoly. Analyze in terms of our models:
  • Are there barriers to entry? If so, what are they?
  • Do Uber and Lyft tend to compete on quantity (Cournot), price (Bertrand), or perhaps something else?
  • Do they produce a differentiated or homogeneous product?
  • What is multi-homing, and how does it affect competition in the ridesharing market?
• Do ridesharing platforms affect the market failures (such as information problems, congestion, or pollution) in the urban transit sector? If so how? For better or worse?

Refer to the specifics of "Fasten" in the Harvard Case Study.

• What are the lessons of the economics of ridesharing for a market entrant like Fasten?
• Did Fasten's strategy indicate that they had absorbed these lessons?
• What has become of Fasten since the Harvard case was written and revised? Are there lessons to be learned there?
• How do you think technological and regulatory change may affect the economics of ridesharing markets going forward?