The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that rideshare drivers in Toronto are on the road for trip bookings only half the time, according to new data from the City of Toronto. The Globe's Vanmala Subramaniam writes that these data reveals extensive insights into rideshare usage over the past five years, highlighting the rising use of apps like Uber and Lyft, and the growth of income reliance on these platforms. The City of Toronto terms the amount of time rideshare drivers spend without a passenger as the "deadheading rate." In 2025, the deadheading rate for rideshare vehicles was 50 per cent, compared with 40 per cent in 2022. Data from 2020 and 2021, during the pandemic-driven lockdowns, show that rideshare vehicles did not carry passengers 57 per cent and 49 per cent of the time. Rideshare drivers only get paid for "engaged time," that is, the time spent accepting a trip assignment from the app, to dropping off a passenger. The data then suggest that between 2022 and 2025, the daily wages of drivers could have declined given the growth in the amount of time they were operating without a passenger. RideFair Toronto says deadheading rates between 2022 and 2025 amounted to a 17-per-cent cut in driver wages.