Bits: Uber, Lyft and Gridlock in New York

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, March 7, 2017 [For the latest updates, go to nytimes.com/bits »]( [Congestion in New York is getting worse. Average travel speeds in the heart of Manhattan dropped to about 8.1 miles per hour last year, down about 12 percent from 2010.]( Congestion in New York is getting worse. Average travel speeds in the heart of Manhattan dropped to about 8.1 miles per hour last year, down about 12 percent from 2010. Edu Bayer for The New York Times [Tech Roundup]( There are few things more aggravating than rush-hour traffic in Midtown Manhattan. Now, local officials are questioning whether ride-hailing apps like Uber are adding to the pain. [The New York Times’s Emma G. Fitzsimmons and Winnie Hu write]( that more than 50,000 drivers in the city are now working for ride-hailing apps. That shift has coincided with lower taxi fares, lower taxi medallion prices and, for the first time since 2009, lower subway ridership — even though the city’s population, and the number of jobs there, keeps increasing. According to city data, “average travel speeds in the heart of Manhattan dropped to about 8.1 miles per hour last year, down about 12 percent from 2010.” The appeal of hailing a vehicle via Uber, Lyft or a similar service is obvious: Instead of cramming into a subway car or lurching through traffic on a bus, a rider can take a car as a more relaxed, albeit more expensive, alternative. And the cost of some services can be as low as $5, which doesn’t sound so bad if you’re carrying a bag full of groceries. But for the many of us who don’t live in New York City, don’t share in its daily aches and pains, and can only admire its mass transit system from afar, the reality that someone would pay to sit in Manhattan traffic rather than take a subway for $2.75 is a bit, well, mystifying. — Jim Kerstetter Read More [The Downside of Ride-Hailing: More New York City Gridlock]( By EMMA G. FITZSIMMONS AND WINNIE HU Ride-hailing apps, an existential threat to taxis, are also siphoning passengers from subways and buses, raising concerns over worsening congestion. ADVERTISEMENT HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [newsletters@nytimes.com](mailto:newsletters@nytimes.com?subject=Bits%20Newsletter%20Feedback%20223). More From The Times [WikiLeaks Releases Trove of Alleged C.I.A. Hacking Documents]( By SCOTT SHANE, MARK MAZZETTI AND MATTHEW ROSENBERG The documents describe agency tools used to hack into smartphones and TVs, as well as to bypass encryption on programs like Signal and WhatsApp. Automation Nation [How to Beat the Robots]( By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER Technology leads to growth, but the benefits won’t be automatic, so here are some policies that economists and policy experts think could help workers. [Activists Rush to Save Government Science Data — If They Can Find It]( By AMY HARMON The Trump administration has begun changing some government websites. A group of concerned citizens has been working to preserve data it sees as politically vulnerable. [China’s Plan to Build Its Own High-Tech Industries Worries Western Businesses]( By KEITH BRADSHER AND PAUL MOZUR European and American companies say that a $300 billion effort to make China self-sufficient in important sectors could lead to unfair competition. [An Artist Helps iTunes’ User Agreement Go Down Easy]( By JOE COSCARELLI A new Drawn and Quarterly graphic novel by the artist Robert Sikoryak adapts Apple’s legalese into a work invoking more than a century of comics. [Facebook Wins Case in Germany Over Refugee’s Selfie With Merkel]( By MELISSA EDDY The picture of Anas Modamani with the German chancellor was used in fake news posts about terrorism, and he wanted the social media giant to prevent its use. Tech Tip [How to Get Windows 10 to Run Older Programs]( By J. D. BIERSDORFER Microsoft’s current operating system comes with compatibility settings that may convince outdated applications to work on Windows 10. ADVERTISEMENT LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. FOLLOW BITS [Twitter] [@nytimesbits]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »]( | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Bits newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2017 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018