Company type | Public |
---|---|
| |
Industry | Vehicle for hire |
Founded | June 9, 2012 (as Zimride) |
Founders | |
Headquarters | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
Area served |
|
Key people |
|
Revenue | US$4.40 billion (2023) |
US$−476 million (2023) | |
US$−340 million (2023) | |
Total assets | US$4.56 billion (2023) |
Total equity | US$541 million (2023) |
Number of employees | 2,945 (2023) |
Subsidiaries | Motivate |
Website | lyft |
Footnotes /references [1] |
Lyft, Inc. is an American company offering mobility as a service, ride-hailing, vehicles for hire, motorized scooters, a bicycle-sharing system, rental cars, and food delivery in the United States and select cities in Canada. [1] [2] Lyft sets fares, which vary using a dynamic pricing model based on local supply and demand at the time of the booking and are quoted to the customer in advance, and receives a commission from each booking. Lyft is the second-largest ridesharing company in the United States after Uber. [1]
Lyft classifies its drivers as independent contractors, a practice that has drawn criticism and legal challenges because it allows the company to withhold worker protections that it would have been required to provide to employees. [3] [4] Studies have shown that, especially in cities where it competes with public transport, Lyft contributes to traffic congestion, reduces public transport use, has no substantial impact on vehicle ownership, and increases automobile dependency. [5] [6] [7]
Lyft was launched in the summer of 2012 by computer programmers Logan Green and John Zimmer as a service of Zimride, a long-distance intercity carpooling company focused on college transport that they founded in 2007 after Green shared rides from the University of California, Santa Barbara campus to visit his girlfriend in Los Angeles and was seeking an easier way to share rides. [8] [9]
In May 2013, the company changed its name from Zimride to Lyft. [10] In July 2013, Lyft sold the original Zimride service to Enterprise Holdings, the parent company of Enterprise Rent-A-Car. [11]
Lyft's marketing strategy included large pink furry mustaches that drivers attached to the front of their cars and encouraging riders to sit in the front seat and fist bump with drivers upon meeting. [12] In November 2014, the company distanced itself from the fist bump. [13] [14] In January 2015, Lyft introduced a small, glowing plastic dashboard mustache it called a "glowstache" as an alternative to the large fuzzy mustaches on the front of cars. The transition was to help overcome the resistance of some riders to arrive at destinations, such as business meetings, in a car with a giant mustache. [15]
In August 2014, the company introduced shared transport. [16]
In December 2017, Lyft expanded into Canada, with operations in the Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa metropolitan areas. [17]
In March 2018, Lyft partnered with Allscripts on a platform allowing healthcare providers to arrange rides for patients who lack transportation to appointments with plans to roll out the service to 2,500 hospitals, 180,000 physicians, and approximately 7 million patients. [18] [19] Lyft acquired Motivate, a bicycle-sharing system and the operator of Capital Bikeshare and Citi Bike, in November 2018. [20] [21] The company also announced plans to add 28,000 Citi Bikes and expand its service. [22]
In March 2019, Lyft became a public company via an initial public offering, raising $2.34 billion at a valuation of $24.3 billion. [23] The company set aside some shares to be given to long-time drivers. [24]
In March 2020, Lyft acquired Halo Cars which pays drivers to display digital advertisements on their vehicles. [25] In April 2020, during to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Lyft laid off 982 employees and furloughed an additional 288 to reduce operating expenses. [26] The company continued to offer scooters for rent in San Francisco, while Miami government asked Lyft to halt operations. [27]
In August 2020, Lyft partnered with rental car company Sixt to provide users access rental cars, in exchange for a commission. Most of the rental cars are owned and operated by Sixt, with 85 locations in the U.S. [28] [29]
In December 2020, Lyft announced plans to launch a multi-city U.S. robotaxi service with Motional. [30] Lyft sold its self-driving car division to Toyota for $550 million in April 2021. [31] [32] The division had partnerships with General Motors, [33] [34] NuTonomy, [35] Ford Motor Company, [36] [37] GoMentum Station, [38] and Magna International. [39] It also owned Blue Vision Labs, a London-based augmented reality startup, acquired in 2018 for $72 million. [40]
In April 2022, Lyft announced an agreement to acquire PBSC Urban Solutions, a Canadian bike-share equipment and technology supplier. [41] In November 2022, the company announced layoffs of approximately 700 employees, or about 13% of its staff. [42]
In March 2023, David Risher was named CEO of the company. [43] [44]
In April 2023, the company announced layoffs of 1,076 corporate workers, or 26% of its staff. This came after job cuts announced in July and November 2022. [45] [46] [47]
In September 2023, Lyft discontinued Lyft Rentals and stopped offering car rental services. [48]
The legality of ridesharing companies by jurisdiction varies; in some areas they are considered to be illegal taxicab operations.
Values of taxi medallions, transferable permits or licenses authorizing the holder to pick up passengers for hire, have declined in value significantly. In 2018, this led to failures by credit unions that lent money secured by taxi medallions [49] and suicides by taxi drivers. [50] [51]
No lawsuit against Uber in which the plaintiffs were taxi companies has ended with a judgment in favor of the taxis. The only case that proceeded to trial, Anoush Cab, Inc. v. Uber Technologies, Inc., No. 19-2001 (1st Cir. 2021), which alleged that Uber caused asset devaluation by competing unfairly, resulted in a full verdict for Uber. [52]
Flywheel, the largest operator of taxis in San Francisco, sued Uber in 2016, alleging antitrust violations and predatory pricing. [53] In 2021, a federal judge threw out the bulk of the case and Uber settled the remainder of the case by integrating Flywheel taxis into its mobile app. [54]
In 2019, 6,000 taxi drivers, represented by law firm Maurice Blackburn, filed a lawsuit against Uber in Australia alleging illegal taxi operations and financial harm. [55] [56] [57] A trial is scheduled for March 2024. [58]
Unless otherwise required by law, ridesharing companies have classified drivers as independent contractors and not employees under employment law, arguing that they receive certain flexibilities not generally received by employees. This affects taxation, working time, employee benefits, unemployment benefits, and overtime benefits and has been challenged legally. [59]
Jurisdictions in which drivers must receive the classification of "employees" include the United Kingdom (after the case of Aslam v Uber BV which was decided by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom), [60] [61] Switzerland, [62] New Jersey, [63] and the Netherlands. [64] [65] California Assembly Bill 5 (2019) was passed to force drivers to be classified as employees in California, although ridesharing companies received an exemption by 2020 California Proposition 22, a ballot initiative. [66] Ridesharing companies spent tens of millions of dollars on the campaign. [67] [68]
Some drivers earn rates that are below minimum wage; as a result, in some jurisdictions, laws were passed to guarantee drivers a minimum wage before and after expenses. [69]
Crimes have been committed by rideshare drivers [70] as well as by individuals posing as rideshare drivers who lure unsuspecting passengers to their vehicles by placing an emblem on their car or by claiming to be a passenger's expected driver. [71] The latter led to the murder of Samantha Josephson and the introduction of Sami’s Law. Ridesharing companies have been accused of not taking necessary measures to prevent sexual assault. [72] [73] They have been fined by government agencies for violations in their background check processes. [74] [75] [76] In 2019, more than 34 women sued Lyft in the United States alleging that they were raped or assaulted by Lyft drivers, and that the company did not do enough to keep them safe [77] and that Lyft attracts drivers that plan to prey on vulnerable women. [78] Many women claim that, even after they reported their assault to Lyft, the company ignored their report and continued to allow the assailants to drive with Lyft. [79]
Ridesharing has also been criticized for encouraging or requiring phone use while driving. To accept a fare, some apps require drivers to tap their phone screen, usually within 15 seconds after receiving a notification, which is illegal in some jurisdictions since it could result in distracted driving. [80]
Ridesharing vehicles in many cities routinely obstruct bicycle lanes while picking up or dropping off passengers, a practice that endangers cyclists. [81] [82] [83]
In the United States, drivers do not have any control over the fares they charge. A lawsuit filed in California, Gill et al. v. Uber Technologies, Inc. et al., alleged that this is a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890; the lawsuit was forced to arbitration. [84]
Ridesharing has been criticized for providing inadequate accessibility measures for disabled people, in violation of local laws.
In some areas, vehicle for hire companies are required by law to have a certain amount of wheelchair accessible vans (WAVs) in use. However, most drivers do not own a WAV, making it hard to comply with the laws. [85]
While ridesharing companies require drivers to transport service animals, drivers have been criticized for refusal to transport service animals, which, in the United States, is in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In 2021, an arbitrator awarded $1.1 million to a visually impaired passenger who travels with a guide dog because she was denied rides 14 separate times. [86]
Complaints that drivers have not accepted ride requests from passengers in certain demographic groups has led some ridesharing companies to hide passenger identities until the ride request is accepted by the driver. A 2018 study in Washington, D.C. found that drivers cancelled ride requests from African Americans and LGBT and straight ally passengers (indicated by a rainbow flag) more often, but cancelled at the same rate for women and men. The higher cancellation rate for African American passengers was somewhat attenuated at peak times, when financial incentives were higher. [87] [88]
Studies have shown that especially in cities where it competes with public transport, ridesharing contributes to traffic congestion, reduces public transport use, has no substantial impact on vehicle ownership, and increases automobile dependency. [5] [89] [6] [7]
Dead mileage specifically causes unnecessary carbon emissions and traffic congestion. [90] A study published in September 2019 found that taxis had lower rider waiting time and vehicle empty driving time, and thus contribute less to congestion and pollution in downtown areas. [91] However, a 2018 report noted that ridesharing complements public transit. [92] A study published in July 2018 found that Uber and Lyft are creating more traffic and congestion. [93] [94] [95] A study published in March 2016 found that in Los Angeles and Seattle the passenger occupancy for Uber services is higher than that of taxi services, and concluded that Uber rides reduce congestion on the premise that they replace taxi rides. [96] Studies citing data from 2010 to 2019 found that Uber rides are made in addition to taxi rides, and replace walking, bike rides, and bus rides, in addition to the Uber vehicles having a low average occupancy rate, all of which increases congestion. This increase in congestion has led some cities to levy taxes on rides taken with ridesharing companies. [97]
A study published in July 2017 indicated that the increase in traffic caused by Uber generates collective costs in lost time in congestion, increased pollution, and increased accident risks that can exceed the economy and revenue generated by the service, indicating that, in certain conditions, Uber might have a social cost that is greater than its benefits. [98]
In November 2018, Lyft settled a class action suit filed in 2014 alleging that the company had sent large numbers of unwanted commercial text messages. [99] In addition to $4 million in payments to consumers, the plaintiffs sought $1 million in legal fees. [100]
Carpooling is the sharing of car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car, and prevents the need for others to have to drive to a location themselves. Carpooling is considered a Demand-Responsive Transport (DRT) service
Uber Technologies, Inc., commonly referred to as Uber, is a multinational transportation company that provides ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and operates in approximately 70 countries and 10,500 cities worldwide. It is the largest ridesharing company worldwide with over 150 million monthly active users and 6 million active drivers and couriers. It facilitates an average of 28 million trips per day and has facilitated 47 billion trips since its inception in 2010, after which it grew rapidly, becoming a financial unicorn and disrupting the taxicab business. In 2023, the company had a take rate of 28.7% for mobility services and 18.3% for food delivery.
Shared transport or shared mobility is a transportation system where travelers share a vehicle either simultaneously as a group or over time as personal rental, and in the process share the cost of the journey, thus purportedly creating a hybrid between private vehicle use and mass or public transport. It is a transportation strategy that allows users to access transportation services on an as-needed basis. Shared mobility is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of transportation modes including carsharing, Bicycle-sharing systems, ridesharing companies, carpools, and microtransit.
Sidecar was a US-based vehicle for hire company that provided transportation and delivery services. It was founded in 2011 in San Francisco and closed on December 31, 2015.
A ridesharing company is a company that, via websites and mobile apps, matches passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire that, unlike taxis, cannot legally be hailed from the street.
Ola Cabs is an Indian multinational ridesharing company, headquartered in Bangalore. It also operates in other business verticals including financial services and cloud kitchens.
The legality of ridesharing companies by jurisdiction varies; in some areas they are considered to be illegal taxi operations, while in other areas, they are subject to regulations that can include requirements for driver background checks, fares, caps on the number of drivers in an area, insurance, licensing, and minimum wage.
Grab Holdings Inc. is a Malaysian multinational technology company headquartered in One-North, Singapore. It is the developer of a super-app for ride-hailing, food delivery, and digital payments services on mobile devices that operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
A robotaxi, also known as robo-taxi, self-driving taxi or driverless taxi, is an autonomous car operated for a ridesharing company.
Vugo is a rideshare advertising company that markets ads on billboards on top of vehicles for hire. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the company is the first to develop in-car advertising for the rideshare marketplace.
Rideshare advertising is a form of digital, out-of-home advertising that uses in-car advertisements in ridesharing vehicles.
Didi Chuxing Technology Company is a Chinese vehicle for hire company headquartered in Beijing with over 550 million users and tens of millions of drivers. The company provides app-based transportation services, including taxi hailing, private car hailing, social ride-sharing, and bike sharing; on-demand delivery services; and automobile services, including sales, leasing, financing, maintenance, fleet operation, electric vehicle charging, and co-development of vehicles with automakers. The company is a subsidiary of Xiaoju Kuaizhi Inc.
Yandex Taxi is an international company operating taxi hailing and food delivery services across Russia, the CIS, Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. It is owned by Russian tech company Yandex. The company is among the world's leading developers of self-driving technology.
inDrive, is an international ride-hailing service with more than 200 million downloads operating in 700 cities in more than 45 countries. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, it is the second largest ridesharing and taxi app worldwide by downloads. The company was officially launched in 2013.
A series of general strikes was coordinated on March 25, 2019 by Lyft and Uber drivers in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, California, United States led by rideshare advocate group Rideshare Drivers United. The strikes aimed to protest low wages, long hours, working conditions, and lack of benefits. The event was planned following Lyft's initial public offering. A second strike took place on May 8, 2019 in anticipation of Uber's initial public offering. The strike in response to Uber's IPO took place in 25 major cities across the United States, and were also joined by drivers in other locations worldwide where Uber operates.
Revel was a dockless electric moped sharing startup based in New York City. Founded in 2018 by Frank Reig and Paul Suhey, it first started with a small pilot program in New York, later growing its fleet size in New York and expanding into Washington, D.C., Miami, and San Francisco. Having pulled out of Washington and Miami in 2022, Revel announced in November 2023 that it would end operation of its mopeds and focus on its electric-vehicle taxi service and its vehicle charging stations.
Proposition 22 was a ballot initiative in California that became law after the November 2020 state election, passing with 59% of the vote and granting app-based transportation and delivery companies an exception to Assembly Bill 5 by classifying their drivers as "independent contractors", rather than "employees". The law exempts employers from providing the full suite of mandated employee benefits while instead giving drivers new protections:
Rideshare Drivers United is an organization of platform drivers that advocates for the interests of rideshare drivers in California.
Homobiles is an American nonprofit organization founded in 2011 which provides rides primarily to the San Francisco LGBT community on a pay-what-you-can model. Lynn Breedlove founded the organization as an alternative to taxi services and public transportation in order to counter discrimination against drag queens, transgender riders, and other members of the LGBT community. Rides are arranged through phone call, text message, or mobile application similar to other transportation network (ridesharing) companies.
The Drivers Cooperative or Co-Op Ride is an American ridesharing company and mobile app that is a workers cooperative, owned collectively by the drivers. The cooperative launched in May 2020 in New York City, with the first 2,500 drivers issued their ownership certificates in a media event.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Update: As of September 1, 2023 Lyft Rentals no longer offers car rental services.