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by ethansinjin 2927 days ago
This is highly laudable and a great step in the right direction. Something that struck me though: what about all the time drivers are

- idling and waiting for a ride

- driving to a pick-up point

- driving to and from a high-demand area

It seems like the act of working as a Lyft driver would contribute more carbon dioxide than other jobs or contract positions.

2 comments

It’s a valid point, but there are also factors in the other direction- for instance, there are people who would have chosen to buy cars if ride sharing weren’t available, and this would have led to greenhouse gas emission through their manufacture, trips taken lazily by car rather than walking, and etc.
The cool thing is, now that they are paying for the extra carbon pollution it pays to try to mitigate these types of issues. The less carbon dioxide they pollute the better it is for their bottom line
I think the GP was asking whether those emissions were being offset, or only emissions incurred during rides.