Uber and Lyft are taking a much bigger slice of drivers' fares than they admit, a review of 14,756 rides has found

REUTERS/Brian Snyder

A protester outside Uber's office in Saugus, Massachusetts in May.

• Car news site Jalopnik asked Uber and Lyft drivers to send in their receipts in an effort to analyse how the companies are skimming off their fares.
• After analyzing 14,756 fares, Jalopnik found both companies were taking heftier chunks of drivers' fees than previously reported.
• Uber and Lyft disputed the figures saying the sample sizes were not representative of the millions of rides taken each day.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A Jalopnik analysis of 14,756 ride fares from Uber and Lyft drivers suggests the ride-hailing apps are taking a bigger bite out of drivers' fares than they say.

The amount of money Uber and Lyft skim off drivers' fares is referred to as the "take rate," and it has been a point of contention in the past as drivers have protested over inadequate pay.

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Jalopnik asked Uber and Lyft drivers to send in receipts both for one-off rides and longer records of multiple receipts over extended time periods. It found:

• Overall, Uber took a 35% cut of rides, and Lyft took 38%.
• Just studying the receipts sent in by drivers who kept records of their rides over extended time periods, the average takes were 29.6% for Uber and 34.5% for Lyft.

When Uber went public in May it reported its take rate for 2018 to be 21.7%, which has dropped to 19% as of the second quarter of 2019. Business Insider previously reported Lyft's 2018 take rate was 26%, although the company told Jalopnik it does not publicly share its take rates. The two companies also calculate the take rate slightly differently, with Uber factoring in tolls and surcharges.

Just looking at Uber's figures alone, the 35% take rate that Jalopnik discovered is more than 84% higher than what Uber claimed in an earnings call earlier this month. The 35% figure is close to the finding of a study last year by the Economic Policy Institute, which said that Uber skims around 33% off of its drivers' fares.

Read more: I'm a driver for Uber and Lyft - here are 10 things I wish I knew before starting the job

Both Uber and Lyft disputed Jalopnik's findings, saying the sample size was too small to be representative. Both declined to provide Jalopnik with statistically significant datasets.

Jalopnik admitted that 14,756 represents only a tiny fraction of the millions of Uber and Lyft trips made each day. An Uber spokesman said roughly 15 million Uber rides take place every day worldwide. Jalopnik also conceded there may have been selection bias for drivers unhappy with the cut being taken out of their fares.

Uber and Lyft were not immediately available for comment when contacted by Business Insider.