Politicians: they’re just like us.
Data from research firm Hamilton Place Strategies shows that members of Congress now use Uber for the majority of their car-service needs.
The firm found that, based on numbers from the Federal Election Commission, Congress spent the majority of their “low dollar” rides in Uber cars in the 2014 cycle.
In 2010, Uber accounted for 0% of Congressional rides. This year, they nabbed 61% of rides.
There was some corresponding decrease in congressional taxi rides, but Uber also appears to have increased Congress’ demand for ride services. HPS postulates that while in the past it may have been cheaper and easier for a staff member to drive people in their campaign car, Uber now frees that staffer up for more pertinent duties.
The report even hilariously wonders how this will affect the duties and careers of young interns: “We will have to wait and see if the next generation of campaign strategists will continue to look back fondly on their days driving the “Boss”around or if there will be some other way for people to get their foot in the door.”
The firm’s most pointed takeaway is to insinuate that this is somehow a particular danger for regulating Uber: “The nature of oversight changes when someone is both regulator and consumer,” it warns.
But plenty of other things are inevitably regulated by those who consume them–cars, food, drugs, cable and phone companies–making the ominous language a tad strange.
