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Clarification:
- any specific geographic location? For this let’s consider Global
- Any specific vehicle? Auto, cab, prime etc. Let’s consider all (excluding food deliveries).
- Do we need this count for 1 day or a week/Month? Let’s consider for a day
Will look into it through top-down approach
Total population - 7.5B
Considering only 50% population using the internet = 3.75B
Considering 10% population uses only their own vehicle (rich population) and chances to book an uber ride is negligible = 37.5 M
Total population = (375 - 37.5) = 3.38B
Considering 3 types of users
Super Users - uses uber atleast 2 times a day (eg. students or IT employees) which is 20% of the population = 67.6M
Active Users - uses uber atleast 3-4 times a week (i.e. 3.5 times a week, 0.5 times a day) uses uber only for personal use which is 20% of the population = 54M
Passive users - uses uber atleast 1 time a month (ignore this variable)
67.6*2 + 54*0.5 | 159.5M rides per day |
159.5*7 | 11.2B rides per week |
159.5*30 | 47.85B rides per month |
We begin by paraphrasing and asking the following clarifying questions:
- Any specific segment or all segments within Uber?
- Any specific geography?
- What duration are we talking about?
- We are talking about cabs only. No premium segment.
- Geography is India (Urban segment)
- Duration - 1 day
- 7 bookings per week - 20%
- 3 bookings per week - 50%
- 1 booking per week - 30%
Should the estimation be for any specific region such as the city of Bangalore? à Okay
What is the time window we should consider – daily, weekly, monthly, annually? à Daily
Uber provides different ride services as Uber Go, Uber XL, Uber Premium, Uber Auto etc. I am not going to segregate on the ride type for simplicity.
Uber also provides Uber Rentals, Uber intercity trips. I am not going to consider these for the estimation.
I will only calculate the Uber rides requested on a weekday. On a weekday most of the rides are by office goers. So, I will be assuming that Uber rides not requested by office goers on weekends are compensated by rides requested for entertainment.
Now, lets start with the estimation.
Approach - First estimate the population who are allowed to request Uber rides. Then look at their socio-economic status. Ultimately consider the percentage of the population who would prefer bookign Uber rides.
Population of Bangalore ~ 9M.
Assuming a life expectancy of 80 years and that people in the age group of 20-40 years is twice that of in other age groups (Bangalore has one of the highest population of college going students and working professionals in India and they mostly fall in the age-group of 20-40years) and uniform population distribution across other age groups.
People in the age group of 0-20 years and 40-80 years + People in the age group of 20-40 years = 9M
Let people be in the age group of 0-10 years be x.
Therefore, 2x + 6x + 2*2x = 9M
8x + 4x = 9M
12x = 9M
So, x = 9M/12 = 0.75M
Young adults above the age of 18years can only request for Uber. People above the age of 70 years are mostly tech averse, go out fewer number of times and go out using private vehicles or public cars.
So, for simplicity, we will consider mostly people in the age group of 20-70 years request for Uber
People who can request for Uber ride = people in the age group of 20-40 years + people in the age group of 40-70 years
= 4x + 3x = 7x = 7*0.75M = 5.25M
The population of 5.25M people come from different socio-economic backgrounds – low-income, middle-income, and high-income. Low-income folks tend to mostly use the public transport of the city. Similarly, the high-income folks mostly use their private vehicles to go for work or to go for any other errands. Let’s assume the following population distribution:
Socio-economic status | Percentage of the 5.25M population | Actual population |
Low income | 30% | 0.3*5.25M = 1.575M |
Middle income | 40% | 0.4*5.25M = 2.1M |
High income | 30% | 0.3*5.25M = 1.575M |
For low-income folks:
Let’s assume that 0% of the low income folks request Uber rides.
For middle income folks:
Most of the folks in the 20-60 age group are working. Some will use public transport, some will use private transport and some will use the ride-hailing services. Assuming 60% use ride hailing and with Ola and Uber being the major ones, let the 60% be evenly distributed across Ola and Uber. These folks request Uber ride everyday.
The folks in the 60-70 years are mostly the retired folks. Again, some will use public transport, some will use private transport and some will use the ride-hailing services. Assuming 40% use ride hailing and with Ola and Uber being the major ones, let the 40% be evenly distributed across Ola and Uber. These folks request Uber ride once a week.
(People in the age group of 20-40 + people in the age group of 40-70 = 2.1M. So, 4y + 3y = 2.1M or 7y = 2.1M è y=0.3M)
Let’s assume the following Uber ride request distribution:
Age group | Percentage requesting Uber rides | No. of Uber rides requested per day | Daily Uber rides requested |
20-60 years | 50% of 60% of 6y = 0.5*0.6*6*0.3 = 0.54M | 1 | 0.54M*1 = 0.54M |
60-70 years | 50% of 40% of y = 0.5*0.4*0.3 = 0.06M | 1/7 | =0.06*1/7 = 0.00857M |
For high income folks:
Most of the folks in the 20-60 age group are working. Some will use public transport, some will use private transport and some will use the ride-hailing services. Assuming 40% use ride hailing and with Ola and Uber being the major ones, let the 40% be evenly distributed across Ola and Uber. These folks request Uber ride everyday.
The folks in the 60-70 years are mostly the retired folks. Again, some will use public transport, some will use private transport and some will use the ride-hailing services. Assuming 20% use ride hailing and with Ola and Uber being the major ones, let the 20% be evenly distributed across Ola and Uber. These folks request Uber ride once a week.
(People in the age group of 20-40 + people in the age group of 40-70 = 1.575M. So, 4y + 3y = 1.575M or 7y = 1.575M è y=0.225M)
Let’s assume the following Uber ride request distribution:
Age group | Percentage requesting Uber rides | No. of Uber rides requested per day | Daily Uber rides requested |
20-60 years | 50% of 40% of 6y = 0.5*0.4*6*0.225 = 0.27M | 1 | 0.27M*1 = 0.27M |
60-70 years | 50% of 20% of y = 0.5*0.2*0.225 = 0.0225M | 1/7 | =0.0225*1/7 = 0.003214M |
Total number of Uber rides requested daily = 0.54M + 0.00857M + 0.27M + 0.003214M
= 0.81 + 0.011784 = 0.81 + 0.012 = 0.822M or 0.8M = 800000
Let’s do a gut check:
800000 = x% of 9.5M
x= 800000*100/9500000 = 800/95 = 8.42 or 8.5
8.5% of Bangalore’s population is requesting an Uber ride daily which does not seem to be a very high number.
Also, Uber rides generally take 30mins to 1 hour to get completed.
If an Uber driver drives for around 12 hours a day, he/she can complete ~ 12 rides or 10 rides
Number of Uber drivers required to serve the city of Bangalore = 800000/10 = 80000 which does not seem to be a high number.
Note: I have not explicitly included the Uber rides requested for to and fro airport.
Assumptions:
- Geography: Bangalore, India
- Type of Uber rides considered: Uber Go, Uber Premium, Bike, Auto (Not considering UberXL or Rental as they’re not used as frequently as the rest.)
- Calculating Uber rides per day
Calculating approximate no. of Uber users:
- Avg. population of Bangalore: 12M
- Avg. population of Bangalore with smartphones and internet: 70% of 12M = 8.4M
- Avg. population out of 8.4M who use cab/auto/bike booking services: 60% of 8.4M = ~5M
- Major competitors of Uber: Ola, Rapido
- Approx no. of Uber users: 5M % 3 = 1.6M
User Segments:
- Active Users (50%): 10 rides per week (This majorly involves the working population who take rides to and from work.)
- Intermediate Users (30%): 5 rides per week (Casual riders)
- Inactive users (20%): 2 rides per week (Assuming they use cab services once a week for to and fro rides which is equal to 2 rides)
Total no. of rides per week: [{(50% of 1.6M)*10} + {(30% of 1.6M)*5} + {(20% of 1.6M)*2}] = 10M
Total no. of rides per day: 10M % 7 = 1.4M
Formula: People using uber x No. of rides every week
Pune: 10Mn
People having a smartphone: 80% = 8Mn
People using the internet: 80%~6Mn
Considering the market size of uber: 40%~2.5Mn
People using the Uber app: 2.5Mn
Type of users:
10%-High Freq: 10 rides/week->2.5Mn/week
20%-Medium Freq: 5 rides/week->2.5Mn/week
70%-Low Freq: 2 rides/month ~0.5 rides /week->0.85Mn/week
Total=8.85Mn Rides /Week ~ 1.26Mn Rides /Day
Initial clarifying questions:
1. Uber rides across the globe? Or at a particular location such as NY, Boston?
Let’s say Boston.
3. Calculation for # of rides per day (week day) per Uber driver?
Yes
3. Ride length - time/distance?
Make assumptions - 30mins, 25miles in and around Boston.
Let’s make a note that rides to and from airport could be longer - 60mins & 50miles
4. Include both regular and premium Uber rides.
Yes
Contemplate the problem in general:
Boston demographics, climate, etc:
- Population : About 650K
- College Town : MIT/Harvard/BU/ … etc
- Major destinations needing transportations : Airports, Ferries, Corp Headquarters
- Corporate environment : Financial institutions, Govt offices, vibrant crowd
- Weather/Climate : All four seasons; winter (so people need comfort/cozy rides)
Assumptions
Let’s say daily demand pattern (although varies by season) is constant throughout the year. For now, let’s discard week-end demand variations and demand surge/decline during holidays & summer seasons.
Breakdown of demand patterns within a day:
Morning ride - 7am to 10am
Mid day ride - 11am to 2pm
Evening ride - 4pm to 7pm
Night ride and early morning (10pm to 7am) - 25% of the peak
Non peak day hours (10am to 11am; 2pm to 4pm; 7pm to 10pm) - 50% of the peak demand
One person per ride.
Exclude Uber share (to make the calculation easier).
Exclude Uber eats drop-offs.
Return journey is considered a separate ride.
Demand side calculation
(Let’s skip the seasonal demand variations due to weather, etc for now)
Let’s compute the demand side.
Corporate demands
Morning peak hours (3hrs):
Corp rides : 1000 people about 50 corps. On each corp 5% need morning ride
Morning 250 rides
Mid 250rides
Eve 500rides
Corp Rides peak hours total = 1000 rides
Non peak hours total = 500 rides (which is 50% of the peak hours total)
Night and early morning = 250 rides (which is 25% of the peak hours total)
Grand Corp rides per days total = 1750
Business
Business day 9am -5pm
Shops, Malls, Restaurant, Hotels, Hospitals, Govt Offices
10,000 shops = ~1000 rides
4 Malls = 1000 people visiting = 100 rides
4 Hospitals = 100 rides
Govt Offices = 50 rides
50 Hotels = Inventory 100 rooms; Occupancy 50% = 2500 occupants
Assuming 10% occupants need ride sharing services => 250 rides
Business Rides Morning = 1500 rides (1000 + 100 + 100 + 50 + 250)
Business Rides Afternoon = 1500 rides
Business Rides Evening = 1500 rides
Business peak hours = 4500 rides
Non peak hours = 2250 rides (50% of the peak as assumed)
Total = 6750 rides
Airport rides
International/Domestic
# Flights in operation : # of gates 40; Assuming flight for every hour for 24 hrs
40x24 = 960 flights => To make the calculation easier, lets say 1000 domestic and international flights /day
# travelers per flight (domestic/international) = 250
Total # of travelers = 1000 * 250 = 2,500,000
Assm 5% needing ride sharing
= 125,000 riders in which about 20% are ride share
= 25,000 rides
Total # rides /day on the demand side = 25k + 6750 + 1750 = 33500 rides / day on the demand
650k population —> 33500 rides/day seams reasonable
Supply side calculation :
Climate : Gig economy, individuals having cars, wanting to have flexible working hours.
Population : 650,000
Everyone about 18 are drivers
1/3 of the population are < 18yrs
The rest 440K
Above 75 don’t come for driving jobs due to age and related health issues
~400k drivers
~ 3/4 own the cars -> 300k cars/drivers
Assuming about 80% won’t need Gig economy
The rest is 60k cars/drivers
Subtracting 1/3 of commercial vehicles, taxies, and vehicles in ready to drive conditions
Remaining = 40K cars/drivers
Assuming about 10% would sign up and be eligible for ride service (passing back ground checks, etc)
Total number of drivers on the supply side = 4k drivers/day
# of rides per driver per day = 33500/4000 = 8.375 rides (a little over 8 rides /day/per-driver).
Clarifying questions
Assumption: “Ride” mean only successful ride
Specific market: the US
Time frame: 2019
Rides = (# of drivers) x (# of hours per driver) x (# of rides per hour)
# of Uber drivers in a city
# of US population: 300 million
# of registered drivers: (80%) => 240 million
Service driver: (5%) => 12 million
Truck: 5%
Taxi/Cab: 30% => 3.6 million
Public transport: 5%
Others: 50%
Taxi/Cab: 3 million
Traditional Taxi: 40%
Uber: 30% => 1 million
Lyft: 15%
Other: 15%
# of Uber drivers (1 million)
# of full-time drivers (30%) => 0.3 million
# of part-time drivers (50%) => 0.5 million
# of occasional drivers (20%) => 0.2 million
# of hours
Full-time
40 hours per week
Part-time
20 hours per week
Occasional
5 hours per week
=> total hours per week = 40x0.3 + 20x0.5 + 2x0.2 = 23 million per week
=> total hours per year (52 weeks) ~ 1,200 million hours
# of rides per hour
Waiting time: 15 mins
Pickup time: 10 mins
Riding time: 40 mins
Drop-off time: 5 mins
Total time per ride = 1.2 hour
=> 1,000 million rides per year
Re-check
Total revenue of Ubers in 2019: 65 billion
US market may take 50% = 32 billion
Rideshare takes 70% of revenue = 26 billion
$ per ride = $26 => make sense
Google Estimation Question - Estimate the number of Uber rides?
Clarifying questions and Assumptions -
Considering only Delhi NCR region, India
Calculating # no rides per day
Will consider all cab rides (Uber go, Sedan, premier, auto, bike, share, etc) but not food delivery rides
Approach: To come to a reasonable number I will user below equation
# number of Uber rides in Delhi NCR per day = #of uber users * avg. no of rides
Now I will calculate the number of uber users in the Delhi NCR region
The total population of Delhi NCR = 20M
Internet and smartphone users = ~50% so the remaining number is 10M
Assuming the target audience which might use online cab services is 60% which makes it 6M.
Assuming Uber and OLA being 2 major players in the NCR region with equal market share so uber’s market share is approximately 50% which implies 3M users of UBER in Delhi NCR
Now to calculate avg no of rides per day I will break the Uber users in the following segments -
User Type | Ride Frequency | % Share |
Power users | users take 10 rides per week | 10% |
Daily users | users take 5 rides per week | 20% |
Frequent users | users take 2 rides per week | 30% |
casual user | users take 1 ride per month | 20% |
Rare users | users take 1 ride in a quarter | 20% |
Power users = 10% of 3M = 0.3M and takes 10 rides per week making ~0.42 M rides per day
Daily users = 20% of 3M = 0.6M and takes 5 rides per week making ~0.42 M rides per day
Frequent users = 30% of 3M = 0.9M and takes 2 rides per week making ~0.25 M rides per day
Casual users = 20% of 3M = 0.6M and takes 1 ride per month making ~0.02 M rides per day
Rare users = 20% of 3M = 0.6M and takes 1 ride per quarter making ~0.007 M rides per day
Total uber rides per day = Total no of rides by all different types of users
Total uber rides in Delhi NCR per day is around 1.1 M rides
Assuming:
Talking about uber car-based rides and not scooters, public transit, or helicopter.
This is # of rides per day.
US only.
Approach:
Estimate the # of uber riders x their average number of rides per day. --- (a)
Splitting (a) by power users, normal users dormant users.
Estimate the volume of each of the above user types and count their rides/day separately.
US population = 300M
Target Uber audience in the range 15-65, with average life expectance of 80 years.
Thus, the target user count 50/80x300M = 190M
Assuming 70% of these users actually use Uber → 130M users
Based on my experience seeing users, 20% of users, in general, tend to be power ridesharing user, they use it atleast 1 time a week.
60% are normal users - Use it atleast 1 time a month
20% are dormant users use it once every quarter,
26M power → Daily rides → 26M/7 rides per day → 3.7M rides/day
26M casual users → 26M/90 rides per day → 0.2M rides/day
78M normal users → 78M/30 rides per day → 2.6 M rides/day
Thus total rides per day → 3.7M + 0.2M + 2.6M ~6.5M rides.
hi, i see everyone making assumptions without any backup for them. for instance - "Assuming the target audience which might use online cab services is 60% which makes it 6M."
now this might be alright but i believe we should use the following approach, any feedback is app
# uber rides = # people * %internet/smartphone * %on-demand cab * %Uber market share * #rides or trips/day
then we can split # people based on age, this gives us an idea of % private vehicle ownership or can help with better assumptions), average # trips per day (income split in % on-demand cab, avg routine based on income), overall leading to a better estimate
Clarifying questions
- The number of rides in Delhi/NCR.
- The ride count on any normal day
- Assuming that an Uber ride means the successful completion of a trip.
- Ride type will include all cab types, auto and bike.
- Uber Ride will pertain only to transport verticle of the company and not delivery.
- Uber rides booked from all platforms (Android, Ios and website)
- Total population of Delhi/NCR - 70 Million
- Internet penetration - 65% (approx 45 Million)
- Uber users - 30% of the total population (approx 10 Million)
- Break down the population based on user types - Working professionals (40%, 4 Million), Students (20%, 2 Million), Stay at home (30%, 3 Million)
- Average ride per user - Working professional (10 rides/week, 1.4 rides/day), Student (5 rides/week, 0.7 rides/day), Stay at home (2 rides/week, 0.2 rides/day )
Some clarifying questions
Is this esitmation for india or World wide - Worldwide These daily or monthly - Monthly Mobile app - any platfom (android or ios) - Estimate for both seperatelt
- Total Population - 8 billion
- total population with internet access = 70 % i.e 0.7 *8 = 5.6 billion
- Let us assume that 90 % of the above internet users actually use mobile phones = 0.9* 5.6 = 5 billion Phone users with internet
- But the total population that would be using cabs would around 0.05or 5 % - assumption = 1.008 billion users who take rides
Type of users. | % split (assumption) | User split- absolute number(millions) | rides per month- assumption | Total Rides(millions) |
High freq users | 0.1 | 0.0252 | 16 | 0.4032 |
Mid freq users | 0.5 | 0.126 | 4 | 0.504 |
Low frequ users | 0.4 | 0.1008 | 2 | 0.2016 |
total rides | 1.1088 |
Clarifying Assumptions:
considering Location: Tehran
considering rides as successful rides
calculating daily on week days
considering time frame 2023
total population of Tehran: 8M
Define population in 3 group:
poor peaple--> 30%-->0% car-->NO CAR
Middle class Peaple--> 60%-->80% car-->8M*0.6*0.8=3.8M
Rich people--> 10%-->100% car-->8M*0.1*1=0.8M
{{{Total drivers=3.8+0.8=4.6 M
Based on statistics I've herad 60% of Iranian people have car( 8*0.6=4.8 M)
So our estimation is close to the reality}}}.
Middle class: 60% uber driver-->3.8*0.6=2.28 M
Rich: 5% uber driver-->0.8*0.05=0.04 M
TOTAL UBER DRIVERS=2.28+0.04=2.32 M
ACTIVE UBER DRIVERS EACH DAY=2.32*0.3=0.7 M
AVERAGE NUMBERS OF RIDES EACH WEEK DAY=4
TOTAL RIDES EACH DAY=0.7*4=2.8 M
Ques for Interviewer: Are we considering all types of uber services like moto and share -> not moto rest all
Ques for Interviewer: any particular day or occassion-> normal weekday
Any particular time -> peak hour
Ques for interviewer: are we estimating number of uber bookings(demand) or number of rides/cabs available -> number of cabs available
Soln. : consider population of mumbai -> 20 M
lets divide the users according to age group as different age groups have different req. , diff level of tech exp, hence diff freq for usage.
Grp 1: age < 22
users are mostly students , travel via school buses, college buses, drop offs , either live in hostels nearby or use cheaper mode of transportation such as public transport.
Population % -> 25% as India's , especially Mumbai's pouplation is young
assuming % of people in this age group travelling during peak hour through uber/ola is 2%
Grp 2: 22
tech savy people , usually working professionals , this group consists of the most users for uber/ola
population: 50%
assuming 60% of these people work out of which 75% work from office hence require transportation to reach there.
now mumbai has an immense network of public transport So people travelling through :
Local trains : 75%, busses : 5%, taxis/auto: 5%, office shuttles : 1%, private vehicles: 9% , remaining people take uber/ola : 5%
Grp 3: age > 60
less tech savy , not many are working, travel very less
population : 25% assuming % of people in this age group travelling during peak hour through uber/ola is 0.5%
Calculating:
No. of uber / ola rides book during peak hr. : 0.35 M
Assuming equal mrkt share of uber/ola : 0.175 M uber bookings (demand of uber rides)
Also around 25% booking will get cancelled or demand is not met due to any reason
assuming out of these 25% will travel by moto and 15% will take uber share( running at a capacity of 3 pax in 1 cab)
so 0.175 (1- 0.25 - 0.15*0.67) * 0.75 = 0.081M
So approx 80K uber rides are available in Mumbai.
1. When we say Uber Rides do we man successful rides or also the rides that got canceled or are still on schedule:- **Go for The successful rides**
2. Any particular area we are targeting for the calculation:- **Take the Delhi NCR region**
3. Uber has a lot of offerings like(bikes, autos, sedans, etc). Any particular sector to calculate:- **No in general.**
4. The number of rides may vary from time to time and also on weekdays and weekends. So is it ok to calculate on an average weekday:- **Yes**
Creating the Equation
**Number of Uber Rides =**
Potential people who take any mode of online travel booking * market share of Uber * Number of rides in a day
Solving
1. The population of India is 1.2 billion
2. The ratio of the population for Urban and Rural divides to 30:70
3. The 5 Major Metro cities consist of 70% of the Urban population
4. So the Population of Delhi NCR is = 1.2 * 30% * 70% * 20% = **50 Million**
The factors for seeing if someone has their own private mode of traveling or not. Generally, the one those who have a private vehicle won't prefer to go by cabs or public mode of transport unless there is some problem with their vehicles.
The factors that I have considered for online booking are the availability of metro all over, the income of the one, and the likeliness to get offline rickshaws.
There is a higher tendency of booking cabs in the higher income and upper middle class because they would prefer comfort
| | Have something for private travelling | Having nothing to travel with | Likeliness to use Any online mode for travel booking who have to nothing to travel with |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| High Class (20%) = 10 million | 90% | 10% = 1 million | 1 million * 90% =0.9 million |
| Upper Middle Class (20%) = 10 million | 80% | 20% = 2 million | 2 million * 80% = 1.6 million |
| Lower Middle Class (30%) = 15 million | 40% | 60% = 9 million | 9 million * 40% = 3.6 million |
| Lower Class (30%) = 15 million | 10% | 90% = 13.5 million | 13.5 million * 10% =1.3 million |
| Total | | | 7.4 million |
The market share of uber in Delhi Can be assumed as 45%. Its competitor is Rapido, blue smart, ola, etc. = 45%*7.4 million = **3.33 million.**
Assuming someone who is going through cab has to also choose some mode of transport to come back to home. We can consider 70% of people will be only choosing cab while coming cab because they can get their colleagues or can choose some other mode of transport as well to get back.
So on return, it is 70%*3.33 million = **2.33 million.**
Total number of uber rides in a day = 3.33 million + 2.33 million = 5.66 million ~ **5.6 million**
Sanity Check
For the sanity check, let's assume the total number of rides completed by an uber in a day is 35 rides.
though it will vary with the type of vehicle but let's assume it on an average of all.
So the total number of uber Vehicles in the Delhi NCR is 5.6 million/35 = 160,000, and it seems to be in an acceptable range.
Clarifying Questions
Which location are we talking about -> lets take for India
Uber have few business proposition→ rental, outstation and uber ride. Which one we are talking about→ uber ride
Uber ride has different offering → go, sedan, xl→ lets take all
What time period we are looking at → daily
Reframing the questions→ estimate the number of uber on demand rides in india on daily basis
One ride will be defined as person booking a ride → getting in → reaching a destination
How i am thinking is uber is predominantly present in metros and few IT cities bangalore , hyderabad, pune and ahmedabad
For the sake of discussion I assume that 80% of ubers business come from top 8 cities and 20% from remaining cities
Cities with 1Cr+ population → delhi, mumbai , chennai, kolkata, bangalore, hyderabad, pune, ahmedabad
Lets assume a citi like bangalore population 15million
Catalog what you know
Uber is a two sided marketplace → consumer and taxi driver
Uber and ola has equal share in ride hailing → 50%
How i am trying to arrive at this number is estimate the number of uber or ola vehicles in the city and look at number of rides they can offer
Number of cars registered with uber * no of hours of operation* no of rides per hour
Computation
Smartphone users → 70% → 15*70%-> 10.5 → 10 million
10 million
Excluding 18 below and 60+ → 30 years dont use → 7 million
Elite → 5Cr + not target → chauffeur driven – 5%
Upper→ 15%
Middle → 30%
Lower → 30% → use public transport , auto ,bike
Target segment → 7* 45%=3.15== 3 million
Segment further into user groups
Power users → 7 days a week -10%
Daily users → 5 times a weeks- 20%
Moderate → 2 times a week-30%
Casual users –1 time a months -20%
Rare users – once a quarter-20%
Average number of daily rides across all user segment/week= 7*0.1+5*0.2+2*0.3+0.25*0.2+0.08*0.2= 2.366
Total number of weekly rides → 2.366*3= 7.098 million/week = 7.098/7 per day= 1 million rides per day
Divide this in 2 for uber and ola = 1/2= 0.5 million
If we want to know for India just extrapolate this number for 8 metros +20% for remaining
0.5*8 + (0.5*8)*20%= 4.8 = 5million
Sanity check = seems reasonable
Geo-specific? Take India
Ride type- share or individual? Take individual
Also, by rides, we mean the actual rides or bookings? Take actual rides
Population of India - 130 crores
I'm assuming people in rural areas cannot afford cabs
Urban population - 40%
~50 crores
Age 14-75 use cabs.
Average life expectancy ~ 80.
Uniformly distributing across ages - 25 crores across 14 to 75.
Usage -
Low (once a month) - 2.5 crores
Medium (once a week) - 12 crores
High (thrice a week) - 5 crores
Very high (5 times a week) - 2.5 crores
In a month -
2.5*1 + 12*4 + 5*12 + 2.5*20 = 160 crore rides
5 crore rides a day.
Number of uber rides in a week
Region : US
Total subscribers in USA= 100 million per year (last time I checked)
Am I right in considering this number?
Breaking usage and assuming use as 40% for low, 40% for med and 20% high
1. Low use: 2 ride per month * 40% = 24 rides/year * 40 million = 960 Million
2. med use: 4 ride per month * 40% = 48 rides /year *40 Million million rides = 1.9 Billion
3. High Use: 8 rides per month * 20% = 96 rides/year * 20 million = 1.9 B
Total rides = 1.9 B + 1.9 B+ .9 = 4.7 Billion rides per year
Approach:
In order to provide the best estiamte, I would work with the interviewer to ensure that I unerstand the scope and nature of the prompt better.
Then I would map out the mathematical steps. And I would make some assumption to fill in the values for some variables. Lastly, I would come up with a final estimate and do a sense check to ensure that my values are accurate.
Clarification questions:
Candidate: Do we want to estimate the number of rides per hour or per day or per week or per month or per year.
Interviewer: Per year.
Candidate: Do we want to measure ride in the particular city or entire country.
Interviewer: Entire country, USA.
Candidate: Do we want to measure the overall rider such as uberx, uberxl uber pool, uber black, etc.
Interviewer: Yes
Map out the equation to estimate the number of rides:
Estimate the total number of travels per week per person by age group.
Estimate the total number of uber rider versus personal mode of transportation per week per person by age group
Apply that across the entire population in the country, to get the total number of rides per week.
Convert the weekly number to annual number.
Mathemtical steps along with assumptions:
Step 1:Let us define the age group in 0-15; 15-25; 25-60; 60-80; and define the total travel per week for each group.
0-15: number of invidual travel is zero. because this group would generally travel with the group. Total- 0
15-25: this group primarily includes students; number of travels per week is roud trip commute to educational insutition every day (2*5) plus 1 leisure trips over the weekend. School is close half of the year. So total is 5.5
25-60: this group primiry accounts for working professionals; number of travels per week is round trip commute to workplace every day (2*5) plus 1 leisure trips over the weekend, to meet with collegues, professional network, friends, and family. Professional take work from home and time-off, 20% of the time. So total is (10+1)*80%=9.6
60-80: this group primarily contains retired senior citizens; number of travels per week is 1 round trip commute to health care facilities once a week plus 2 lesiure trips per week since they have more free time, unburdened by work. Total- 3
Step 2: Adjust down the travels to accounts for the travels that made by personal transportation (bike, car), public transportation (bus, train), walk and ride share uber and ride share lyft.
In the absence of the available data on market research or survey, I assume 5% market share for uber.
0-15: 0
15-25: 5.5*5%= 0.2 (30% of the time personal car, bike; 30% public transport like bus; 30% walk; 5% lyft and 5% uber)
25-60: 9.6*5%=0.4 (30% of the time personal car, bike; 30% public transport like bus; 30% walk; 5% lyft and 5% uber)
60-80: 3*1%=0.03 since seniors ride with loved one, I just assign 1% share to uber.
Total= 0.4+0.15+0.03=0.6 per average person per week
Pandemic cut back the travel by one tenth; so it is 0.6*10%=0.06
Step 3:
There are 300 million people in the country.
So number of rides across the entire country is 300 milliion * 0.06 = 18 MM rides per week.
There are 52 weeks in a year.
So it is 52*18MM= 936 MM rides per year
Step 4:
Sense check the data: let us assume the ride cost $10.
So that is roughly $10B annual revenue for uber.
Questions:
Asuming only car rides? In the span of one day?
Equation: #of uber rides each day = population of us that don't have cars % that rides uber each day
I will take a top down approach
Assume average life expectancy is 80 years old => college students btw. the age of 18-21 = 5% majority don't have cars
Frequency = 2 times a month or 24 times a year
Assume population of us is 300 million
= 300 mill x 5% students x 24 times a year = 350 mill rides / year => 1million rides /day
working people: 21-60 => 50%
Assume 30% of working people don't have cars = 15% working people that would use Uber
Frequency = 10% x 12 times a year (ocassional users) + 5% x 240 times a year(commute to work)
= 1.2 + 12 = on average 13 times a year
= 300 mill x 50% x 13 times/year / 365 days => 4 million rides/day
total of 5 million rides / day
Find number of Uber Rides per day
Clarifying Questions
Are we looking at Indian Market? Or all over the world? India
Are we looking at all kinds of rides ? Say Cab, Auto or Bike ? Yes
Total Population of India : 1.2 B people
% urban population where Uber service is available : 30 %
Total urban population : 0.36 B people
Smart Phone Penetration in Urban Areas : 40 %
People with smart phones in urban areas : 0.144 B
Lets say Uber is installed on 50% phones
Remaining population : 0.072B
Segments of Users
Power Users - 3 rides per week make up 10 % of the remaining population
Power Users are made up of people who commute to Office/College via Uber + people who do not drive at all or use their own vehicle or they dont have their own vehicle
Casual users - 1 ride per week make up 20 %
Casual Users are made up people who prefer public transport or their own vehicle most often but also use Uber sometimes when they do not want to drive or someone else is using their vehicle
Dormant users - 1 ride per month make up 70 %
Dormant Users are once who prefer cheaper modes of transport or drive themselves and use Uber very rarely
Equation :
Total Uber rides per day = Rides from (Power + Casual + Dormant Users)
=(0.1 * (3/7) * 0.072 B) + (0.2* (1/7) * 0.072B) + (0.7 * (1/30)*0.072B)
= 0.003 B + 0.002 B + 0.0017 B
= 0.0067 B
Total Uber rides per day in India= 6.7 Million
Few clarifying questions that I’ll ask and assumptions taken-
Total number of rides internationally or in a country or in a city? Here I’ll calculate total number of rides in a city like Delhi NCR which includes Delhi and its suburbs.
I’ll consider rides taken by consumer and not consider rides part of uber eats business
I am considering only intra city rides
I’ll estimate the daily rides.
I’ll restrict the scope to any working day.
Here, I’ll find out the different users and ways people use Uber rides and try to find out the approximate number of rides taken for different use cases.
Following are the major users of Uber –
Traveling to and fro from Airport
Office Goers
Professionals attending an event or meeting
Family/Individuals going out for shopping/eating out or meeting other
Now I’ll estimate the total number of users, the percentage of them using cars and rides being taken in different use cases.
I’ll use the formula:
Total number of Target Group * Percentage of users preferring cars * Percentage of users using Taxi/Ride sharing *Uber market share in that segment.
Now let’s consider the different use cases:
Travelling to and fro from Airport
Total number of travellers – Approximately 100 thousand persons fly in or out from Delhi airport. Assuming 50% travellers from nearby areas (rest coming from nearby towns not being catered by Uber). I’ll assume 70% use taxi or ride sharing app. Considering Uber having 40% market share, we can assume the number of rides going in and out from airport to be
=100.000 *50% (local population)*70% (Rest are dropped off by family/friends or use own vehicle)*40% =14K rides daily
Office Goers – Approximately 20L white collar employees out of which 20% prefer travelling by car (Personal or taxi). 50% use personal cars. Out of which assuming 40% use Uber out of Taxi/Ride sharing service. The number of rides taken daily
=20L * 20% *50% *40%*2 (To and fro) = 160K rides
Professionals attending an event or meeting
Assuming 50 major events in the city and approximately 500 persons attending the event. Assuming 20% use ride sharing or taxi and Uber having 40% share.
=50*500*20%*40% =2K rides
Assuming 1% professionals going out for meeting and 50% prefer to use taxi/ride sharing. Assuming 5 rides daily by those users for meetings
=20L*1%*50%*40% *5 = 20K rides daily
Family/Individuals going out for shopping/eating out or meeting friends/families twice a week or other misc use cases
Approximating the weekly number of rides
20L families *50% preferring car * 20% using taxi or ride sharing *40% using uber *2 (to and fro) *2 = 320K weekly rides. Assuming 10% of total on any weekday- 32K rides daily
The total number of rides taken daily are – 230K rides daily on any weekday.
Few clarifying questions that I’ll ask and assumptions taken-
1) Total number of rides internationally or in a country or in a city? Here I’ll calculate total number of rides in a city like Delhi NCR which includes Delhi and its suburbs.
2) I’ll consider rides taken by consumer and not consider rides part of uber eats business
3) I am considering only intra city rides
4) I’ll estimate the daily rides.
5) I’ll restrict the scope to any working day.
Here, I’ll find out the different users and way people use Uber rides and try to find out approximate number of rides taken for different use cases.
Following are the major users of Uber –
1) Traveling to and fro from Airport
2) Office Goers
3) Professionals attending an event or meeting
4) Family going out for shopping/eating out or meeting other
Now I’ll estimate the total number of users, percentage of them using cars and rides being taken in different use cases.
I’ll use the formula:
Total number of Target Group * Percentage of users preferring cars * Percentage of users using Taxi/Ride sharing *Uber market share in that segment.
Now let’s consider the different use cases:
1) Travelling to and fro from Airport
Total number of travellers – Approximately 100 thousand persons fly in or out from Delhi airport. Assuming 50% travellers from nearby areas (rest coming from nearby towns not being catered by Uber). I’ll assume 70% use taxi or ride sharing app. Considering Uber having 40% market share, we can assume the number of rides going in and out from airport to be
=100.000 *50% (local population)*70% (Rest are dropped off by family/friends or use own vehicle)*40% =14K rides daily
2) Office Goers – Approximately 20L white collar employees out of which 20% prefer travelling by car (Personal or taxi). 50% use personal cars. Out of which assuming 40% use Uber out of Taxi/Ride sharing service. The number of rides taken daily
=20L * 20% *50% *40%*2 (To and fro) = 160K rides
3) Professionals attending an event
Assuming 50 major events in the city and approximately 500 persons attending the event. Assuming 20% use ride sharing or taxi and Uber having 40% share.
=50*500*20%*40% =2K rides
Assuming 1% professionals going out for meeting and 50% prefer to use taxi/ride sharing. Assuming 5 rides daily by those users for meetings
=20L*1%*50%*40% *5 = 20K rides daily
4) Family/Individuals going out for shopping/eating out or meeting friends/families twice a week or other misc use cases
Approximating the weekly number of rides
20L families *50% preferring car * 20% using taxi or ride sharing *40% using uber *2 (to and fro) *2 = 320K weekly rides. Assuming 10% of total on any weekday- 32K rides daily
The total number of rides taken daily are – 230K rides daily on any weekday.
Clarify:
- can i assume we want to calculate for a city, say Los Angeles? - yes
- this includes all user types - pool, xl, etc.? -yes
- pool could have multiple passengers but each booking is a ride? - yes
tot. work hrs i see 4-10 hrs. I will take an avg of 8 hrs, which is a std work schedule and many are full time drivers.
occupancy rate
i would say an uber driver is roughly carrying passengers for 5 hrs considering breaks and time spent in driving to the passenger, waiting and driving empty. so ~60%
putting it all together,
total rides = total # drivers * tot. work hrs * occupancy rate /avg. duration of a ride
= 3K * 8 * .6 /0.5 = ~30K/day i.e. ~1M per year
quick validation
Greater LA population = 18M
# households = 1/3 = 6M
rounghly 60% take uber = 3.6M, @ avg of 2-3 times a year = $10M/yr
Quick review of the numbers showed that there is a calculation mistake. 30K/day * 300 = 10M/yr
- Clarify the scope of the question
- Are we only taking into account the number of rides in London, UK or the world? - London only
- Estimating it when? Right now (this second, hour, in a day, week or year) - in a day
- Taking into account pool journeys
*Calculating the number of Uber rides in London in a day
- Create the main equation
Number of uber rides = No. of uber drivers working on a given day x No. of trips made per day
- Break down the unknowns in the equation into simpler equations
a) Number of cars registered
Population of London is 9million
- Divide by income
- Divide by family/children
- Divide by central London and outskirts
5% population is homeless: 0.45m - approx 0.5m
Central London = Zone 1 to 3: 30% ——> 2.5m
Outskirts = Zone 4 onwards: 70% ———> 6m
10% of people living central would own a car: 250K
80% people: 4.8M
Total cars in London: 4.8+250K = Approx 5M
10% are registered as uber drivers = 500K
On a given day 10% uber drivers log into the app to work = 50
b) Number of trips made per day
- Journey in central London: Shorter; avg 15min
- Journey's outside: longer: avg 35min
- Peak hours: 2 long journeys or 4 short
- Non-peak hours: 1 long journey or 2 short
8 am to 10 am and 4 to 6 pm are peak hours and 10 am to 4 pm and 6 pm to 8 am are non-peak hours
FT Driver - 40% - 8hrs
PT Driver - 60% - 3hrs
Let's assume a driver works for avg 5 hours a day:
- Calculate the numbers
No of journies in 1 Peak hour and rest nonpeak hour: 4 small journeys X 2hrs + 1 long journey X 3 = 11Journeys
Number of uber rides = No. of uber drivers working on a given day x No. of trips made per day
Number of uber rides = 500 x 11 = approx 500K rides a day
Assumptions: US only
Per Day
Gig economy: 20%
%age of gig economy in Driving: 10%
No. of full time to part time drivers: 1/10
Cities: Population > 100,000
Towns: Population<= 100,000
City Population: 60% of US population
Town Population: 40% of US population
Ride share: 50% Uber
Equation:
No of rides = No of Drivers * Rides per driver
No. of Drivers:
Drivers: Full Time, Part time
They can be in large cities and small cities
Part time drivers in Cities:
US Population * City % * % of gig workers * % of gig working driving * No. of days driving * Ride Share
= 300 M * 60% * 20% * 10% * 1/7 *.5
= 250,000
Part time drivers in Towns: 150,000
Using assumption of 1/10 of full time to part time
Full time driver drive 8 hours and part time driver drive 4 hours. Each ride take half hour.
No of drivers | No of rides | ||
Full time | City | 25,000 | 16 |
Full time | Town | 15,000 | 16 |
Part time | City | 250,000 | 8 |
Part time | Town | 150,000 | 8 |
Total rides: 400000+ 240000+2 M + 1.2 M = 3.84M
Clarifying Question-
1. Is it for any specific geography - US (entire US)
2. # of rides frequency? - Per day
3. Business Intent of ride in scope - Only Commute ( Both Uber and Uberpool) no Uber eats in scope
I will estimate the # of rides/day for commute using demand side analysis.
Since Uber is the flag bearer of ride sharing apps - Assuming 70% market share for Uber in rural market
Lyft is competing on equal footing with Uber hence assuming 60% market share in Metropolitan area
Total Market size for Uber is 102Million
#rides - 5million/day
Assumptions -
- The number of Uber rides has to be estimated for a specific city. I've taken the city to be Delhi(India) in my example
- The number of Uber rides has to be estimated averaging per day. If the need be, can be multiplied by a factor of 365 for an year
- This estimation is only applicable for Uber rides for Delhi and not for Delhi NCR
- Total Pupulation of Delhi - 2 million approximately
- Peak hour duration - 8 a.m - 11 a.m and 5 p.m - 8 p.m
- Non peak hour duration - Rest of the time slots of the day
Estimation - I've come up with the following equation for estimating the Uber rides per day
Equation - # Uber rides hailed per day in peak hours + # Uber rides hailed per day in non - peak hours
In both the cases, the number of Uber rides can be estimated by taking a proportion of the population likely to hail a ride
- Number of Uber Rides in peak hours - This can be estimate by estimating the porportion of working age population gainfully employed likely to travel by cab * Market share of Uber
Proportion of working age population - 60%
Proportion of population employed - 70%
Division of modes of transportation to work
Proportion travelling by public transport (Bus/Metro/Three Wheeler) - 30%
Proportion which doesn't travel to work(Office at the same location/Nearby) - 5%
Proportion travelling by private transport (Two wheelers) - 20%
Proportion travelling by private transport (Four Wheelers) - 15%
Proportion travelling by public transport (Cab) - 20%
Proportion of people present at work on an average - 90%
Market Share of Uber - 60%
Calculation -
2,000,000 * .6 * .7 * .2 * .9 * .6 = 90,720 ~ 90,000
- Number of Uber Rides in non peak hours - This estimation would be broken down into day hours and night hours since the likelihood of hailing a cab would differ by a lot
- Number of rides 11 - 5 - The maximum proportion of riders in this time period would be 30% non employed people and some other non working age population adults
Propensity of working age population adults not employed hailing a cab could be 10%
Propensity of non working age population adults hailing a cab could be 5% on an average
Calculation -
(2,000,000 * .4 * .05 * 0.6 + 2,000,000 * 0.6 * .3 * .1 * 0.6 = 24,000 + 21,000 = 45,000 approximately - Number of rides 8 - 8 - The maximum proportion of riders during this time are travellers to and from dinners or to and from railway stations/airports
Majority of this population is also the population that's in the working age group and employed
Propensity of an average adult hailing a cab per day - 10%
Calculation -
2,000,000 * .6 * .7 * 0.2 * 0.6 = 50,000 approximately
- Number of rides 11 - 5 - The maximum proportion of riders in this time period would be 30% non employed people and some other non working age population adults
Therefore, the total number of Uber rides per day in Delhi = 90,000 + 45,000 + 50,000 = 185,000
Estimate total Uber rides per day in USA | ||||
Method 1: | Total Population | 300,000,000 | ||
Total people want a taxi (30%) | 90,000,000 | |||
Uber market share (60%) | 54,000,000 | |||
DAU (20%) | 10,800,000 | |||
Average passengers per trip | 2 | |||
Total uber users for trips per day | 5,400,000 | |||
Method 2: | Total Uber users in USA | 50,000,000 | ||
DAU (20%) | 10,000,000 | |||
Average passengers per trip | 2 | |||
Total trips per day | 5,000,000 | |||
I am working on the assumption that this question refers to Uber India.
Uber operates in about 30 cities in India. Lets calculate the number of Uber rides in one city and then we can work bottom up for calculating the same for India.
Lets classify them as per follows:
- Cities Ranked 1-6 by Area: Metros
- Cities Ranked 7-20 by Area: Large Cities
- Cities Ranked 21-30 by Area: Medium Cities
- Large Area: More than 40 sq Km
- Large Cities : 20-40 sq Km
- Medium Cities: Till 20 sq Km
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