Love in a Rideshare: 7 in 10 Millennials Have ”Hooked-Up” in the Back Seat

As they say, there’s nothing new under the sun, including getting frisky in a car. From traditional drive-in movie action to Beyonce asking the limo driver to “roll up the partition”, back seat loving is probably as old as cars themselves.

What is new? Rideshares. We were interested in seeing how the popularity of rideshares has changed romance in cars, so we surveyed 1,000 millennials in cities across the country to find out about their romantic encounters in rideshares.

Our findings are…interesting.

Summary

Friskiest Cities:
1 - New York City
2 - San Antonio
3 - Chicago

Courting in the Car

• 1 in 3 have had a driver flirt with them
• 1 in 5 have flirted with their driver
• 32% have had a crush on a stranger they shared a ride with

Your Chariot Awaits…
Calling a Car for Your Date

• 40% have had a car called for them by a date
• 31% have called a car for their date
• 29% neither

1 in 3 have taken a “Ride of Glory” after a one-night stand

71% of all respondents have “hooked-up” (kissing and more) in the backseat of a rideshare

Rideshare “Activities”
(Breakdown of activities by respondents who indicated they have engaged in one or more “activities”)

• Kissed - 60%
• Over the Clothes Touched - 31%
• Under the Clothes, Below the Belt - 20%
• Oral Sex - 15%
• Intercourse - 11%

Who’s Most Likely to Get Frisky

• 2 in 10 men have had sex in a rideshare, compared to 1 in 10 women
• Married riders are 10% more frisky in rideshares than singles
• Republicans are twice as likely to have oral sex in the backseat of a rideshare

Not Uncharted Territory, At Least for Uber

You may remember a few edgy 2011 post’s from the Uber data blog. One of the posts highlighted the correlation of peak ridership and neighborhoods in San Francisco with the highest rates of prostitution, theft and alcohol-related crimes. In another post, Uber coined the term “Ride of Glory”, someone presumably taking an Uber home after a one-night stand:

“A RoGer is anyone who took a ride between 10pm and 4am on a Friday or Saturday night, and then took a second ride from within 1/10th of a mile of the previous nights’ drop-off point 4-6 hours later (enough for a quick night’s sleep).”

After facing a firestorm of criticism regarding privacy, heavy-handed PR tactics and attitudes towards women, Uber removed the post from its blog.

The Official Word

Uber:
As far as official policies go, Uber’s is pretty explicit. Their Community Guidelines state that the sexual and romantic behavior we found many riders engaging in could lead to the loss of access to Uber.

“As our community guidelines make clear, you shouldn’t touch or flirt with other people in the car. As a reminder, Uber has a no sex rule. That’s no sexual conduct with drivers or fellow riders, no matter what. And you should never hit or otherwise hurt a driver or fellow passenger.”

Lyft:
While Lyft doesn’t have any explicit policies for this type of behavior, they encourage drivers to put their safety first, empowering them to cancel any ride if they feel unsafe or uncomfortable.

“You have the right to decide if you feel comfortable picking up a passenger. Your personal safety comes first. If you ever drive up to a passenger and you feel uncomfortable for safety reasons, let us know about it as soon as possible by tapping 'Contact Support' below. You may ask the passenger to cancel the ride, or cancel it yourself if they won't.”

Our advice? Riders participating in extracurricular activities in a rideshare should do so at their own risk.

Methodology

We surveyed 1,000 ridesharing users between the ages of 18 and 34 (millennial) in 10 major U.S. cities: Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston, San Antonia, Chicago, New York City, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. The survey was conducted between October 5, 2017 and October 9, 2017 via the survey platform Pollfish.