It's estimated that more than 50 million people have already chosen to ride in an Uber to get to where they need to go.

Right now, there are something around 7 million Uber drivers who are currently active around the world and they've offered over 5 billion rides to those who need it.

Every single day, they're giving about 1 million rides in over 400 different cities around the world. At the moment, they've got a higher valuation than many well-known car companies that you'd be familiar with like GM or Ford.

Whether it's helping a group of teens get home safely after a night of drinking on the town, or helping elderly patients make it to their medical appointments, there are many reasons that people have been turning to this ride-sharing transportation option. One of the biggest pushers for many to consider this travel option has been cost, with many claiming that it's a far cheaper alternative to taking a traditional taxi to where they need to go.

One economist from the University of Kansas says that it's also helping to drive down the price of costly ambulance rides.

Ambulance rides are incredibly costly and one ride can easily cost anywhere from a hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. And assistant professor David Slusky says that the ride-hailing services are helping to offset the ambulance use. He's been working on a research paper on this topic for some time now.

One organization that has been analyzing stats on this topic is known as Nemsis (the National EMS Information System) and they collect data regarding ambulance volume for the entire country. Slusky was able to use that data to see how Uber might be playing a role in offsetting some of the demand. They matched up the data for a variety of cities, looking at before and after Uber came around.

They noticed a clear change in per-capita ambulance volume for each city.

In other words, the ambulance volume was seen to decline about 7 percent when Uber got into the market and provided people in the city with another ride alternative. And it clearly shows an area where there is some room to work and grow emergency medical services in the way of transportation; they need an upgrade.

In the future, Slusky says that he sees a time when people will be able to call 911 and instead of having an ambulance sent out immediately to them, perhaps video chat with them first instead and assess whether an alternative ride option can be sent.

Overall, the hope is to improve not only the efficiency for the hospital and its resources, but also to improve options in the way of ride services in the market for consumers.

Pics:
Pixabay
Atlas, via Medium
giphy

Sources:
https://medium.com/@sm_app_intel/these-latest-uber-statistics-show-how-its-dominating-lyft-53f6b255de5e
http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-vs-taxi-pricing-by-city-2014-10
https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/uber-statistics/
http://kcur.org/post/ku-economist-says-uber-may-be-driving-down-use-costly-ambulances#stream/0

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