The new accounts for riders aged 13 to 17 launch today in over 200 major markets, including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Boston, and Washington, DC. Parents get a link to track trips in real time, receive updates at pickup and drop-off, and can communicate directly with their teen’s Lyft driver if needed, the company says. The announcement comes almost three years after Uber first launched its teen accounts.
Lyft made a big splash when it bought Citi Bike’s parent company in 2018. It promised huge investments and improved service. But, it’s also raised prices at a stunning rate, far outpacing inflation and fares for other transportation in NYC. And yet, it hasn’t bothered digging out most of its bike docks, according to Streetsblog.
Risher sees Lyft as a service company above all, but AI makes everything weird.
The California governor, who is already angling for a presidential run, has a stack of AI regulation bills he can veto before October 12th. Newsom has a slew of tech donors — and may want more tech money for a presidential run. OpenAI is also staffed up with Newsom-affiliated operators. So will Newsom sign the bills?
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[Blood in the Machine]
After a ride, you’ll be able to mark a driver as a favorite and Lyft will prioritize matching you with them when possible.
The head of Uber on autonomous cars, shared rides, and the future of mobility.
The rideshare company just reported its first full year of profitability (based on generally accepted accounting principles). And it only took *checks notes* 13 years! (Uber accomplished this last year.) Net income for 2024 was $22.8 million on adjusted earnings of $382.4 million, compared to a net loss of $340.3 million in 2023. Gross bookings were up 17 percent, and revenue was up 31 percent. But shares were down in after-market trading based on a slightly gloomier than expected outlook for 2025. Still, a significant milestone for the historically money-losing rideshare company.
[investor.lyft.com]
Rideshare rides in lower Manhattan will cost an extra $1.50 as part of a new rideshare congestion fee starting tomorrow.
As TechCrunch spotted, Lyft has announced that through the end of January, it will give that back as account credits that can be used within a week for Lyft or Citi Bike rides
Ride share drivers in New York are guaranteed a minimum wage — but Uber and Lyft gamed the law by locking drivers out of the app, making it impossible for them to earn more, a Bloomberg investigation found.
Bloomberg collected more than 7,000 screenshots of lockouts and estimated how much the companies could save using the lockout tactic.
The $2.99 monthly subscription service lets riders lock in a fixed price during peak hours, which Lyft claims can save members up to $40 a month. You’ll pay less if the ride ends up being cheaper than the locked-in price.
You can sign up by clicking “Price lock” in the menu section of the Lyft app.
According to The Wall Street Journal, ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft “say people are receptive to their ads,” with customers “less likely to cancel” their rides if they’re distracted by advertisements while they wait.
Uber has been cramming ads wherever it can, but it doesn’t work everywhere. The Journal writes that people hated them in push notifications so much that Uber cut those out in under a day, but folks don’t mind movie trailers on in-car tablets.
[The Wall Street Journal]
That’s because thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers in over a dozen cities are going on strike for 24 hours to protest low wages and unfair practices by the gig economy companies. Their demands? A larger cut of fares, a living wage, transparency in pay calculations, and an end to unfair deactivations.
“The main challenge is surviving,” said Nupur Chowdhury, an Uber driver and ride-share organizer in Arlington who helped plan the strike in the Washington area. “We cannot make the same amount of money we used to make, even if we work double the hours.”
[The Washington Post]
When it comes to AVs, the landscape is littered with over-optimistic predictions and missed deadlines. What happened?
Uber will pay $290 million (3 percent of its revenue generated last quarter) and Lyft will pay $38 million (4 percent of its revenue) to settle allegations that the ride-sharing companies illegally withheld wages and mandatory sick leave from drivers in New York. Over 100,000 drivers in the state could be eligible to receive funds under the settlement.
So much so that it wants to get rid of it, CEO David Risher said during Lyft’s earnings call on Tuesday. As reported by TechCrunch:
“[Primetime pricing] is a bad form of price raising,” said Risher. “It’s particularly bad because riders hate it with a fiery passion. And so we’re really trying to get rid of it, and because we’ve got such a good driver supply…it’s decreased significantly.”
[TechCrunch]
That translates into 1,072 workers that will be out of a job after the company said it would undertake a “restructuring” to reduce operating costs. These layoffs come after the beleaguered ridehail company laid off 13 percent of staff last November. Lyft’s May 4th first quarter earnings call are sure to be brutal. The company’s share price fell off a cliff earlier this year and has yet to really recover.
[Fast Company]
On Friday, new Lyft CEO David Risher emailed staff to inform them of layoffs happening on Thursday, April 27th. The company shared his email on its blog. Lyft plans to cut 1,200 or more jobs, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company laid of 13 percent of its staff in November.
[www.lyft.com]
Just months after Lyft laid off 13 percent of its workforce, the company’s two co-founders — CEO Logan Green and president John Zimmer — have announced that they’re leaving their posts on April 17th. The pair will remain on the company’s board, while former Amazon head of product David Risher takes over as CEO.
An investigation from The Markup found that Uber is slow to respond to law enforcement requests, leaving drivers vulnerable to repeated attacks.
