Insights Inflation Checkpoint: Transportation Innovations and Transit Costs

Highlights

• Ridesharing services are a disruptive transportation innovation, especially in major urban areas. While deflationary within the transportation category, their impact on broader inflation metrics is small. 
• Inflation metrics can be slow to capture recent changes in consumer spending patterns, like the rise in usage of ridesharing services. 
• The Bessemer Price Index (BPI) has trended slightly higher than the overall Consumer Price Index (CPI) in recent months; some of this differential is accounted for by trends in school tuition, housing costs, lodging away from home, and motor fuel.