Uber's ride-hailing service winning over members of US Congress Uber's been investing heavily in lobbying politicians around the country to allow it to operate, but new data out suggests that, at least in one respect, politicians are already big fans of the group. Uber rides accounted for over 60 per cent of taxi or hired car rides taken by members of US Congress and staff of their campaign committees in the just-finished election cycle, according to research by Hamilton Place Strategies, a Washington DC-based analysis firm. HPS looked at data filed by the politicians" campaign committees on how they spent their campaign funds and focused on rides costing under $100 - in other words, daily trips, rather than long-haul transit between cities. In 2012, they found, there were only around 100 Uber rides in that price range. This year, there were 2,800 Uber rides out of a total of 4,600 taxi or ride-sharing trips. Uber, meanwhile, has been locked in fights with regulators around the US and globally. The taxi industry is heavily regulated. Critics of Uber, a new model for ride hailing, say it has an advantage because it does not everywhere follow all of the same rules in areas like licensing and insurance. It has hired a team of government affairs experts-notably David Plouffe, former advisor to President Barack Obama-to help it argue its case. In that context, why might the ride choices of Congress matter? HPS researchers write: These dynamics have big implications for how regulators navigate the peer-to-peer economy. The nature of oversight changes when someone is both regulator and consumer ... One thing is clear: members of Congress have embraced peer-to-peer car services for themselves. The regulation of Uber has not yet come up in a significant fashion on the federal level, but when it does, it might be interesting to check back and see whether there is any correlation between lawmakers" reporting riding habits and their votes. with reporting by Gina Chon in Washington DC