Over the last few years ride sharing services like Uber have grown in popularity with riders, drivers, and investors, despite cries of uproar from the traditional taxi industry. Many regions in Canada are figuring out exactly how these services fit in with taxi regulations and if new laws need to be put in place around them.
A new poll released by Angus Reid today sheds some light on the opinions of Canadians relating to services like Uber. The poll shows, among other things, a generational divide on the use and regulation of the service, with younger people being much more likely to have used Uber or other ‘sharing economy’ services like Airbnb.
In fact, almost all those polled have strong opinions about the new services, but only 10 percent of respondents had actually used sharing platforms like Uber or Airbnb at least once. Despite strong opinions, the majority of people said that they had positive views of both companies (Uber 61 percent, Airbnb 70 percent), and a similar majority (Uber 63 percent, Airbnb: 57 percent) said that Uber and Airbnb should be regulated in the same way as the taxi and hotel industries.
It’s interesting to see the perception of these companies change with respondents’ age, as 70 percent of 18-24 year olds would be comfortable with a neighbour renting their space on Airbnb, while that number dips considerably to 41 percent of 65+ year olds being comfortable with it.
Among respondents who have used Uber in the past, 90 percent expressed a positive opinion of the company, while in Quebec, the overall opinion was the most negative, with over 60 percent of those polled having a negative view of Uber.
[source]Angus Reid[/source]
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