Lyft
Lyft, Inc. is an American company that develops, markets, and operates a mobile app, offering ride-hailing, vehicles for hire, motorized scooters, a bicycle-sharing system, rental cars, and food delivery. It is based in San Francisco, California and operates in 644 cities in the United States and 12 cities in Canada. Lyft does not own any vehicles; instead, it receives a commission from each booking. Fares are quoted to the customer in advance but vary using a dynamic pricing model based on the local supply and demand at the time of the booking.

With a 32% market share, Lyft is the second-largest ridesharing company in the United States after Uber.

History

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 they founded in 2007.

Green had the inspiration for Zimride after sharing rides from the University of California, Santa Barbara campus to visit his girlfriend in Los Angeles. He had used Craigslist’s ride boards but wanted to eliminate the anxiety of not knowing the passenger or driver. When Facebook opened its API to third-party developers, Green said he thought "Here’s the missing ingredient." Zimride linked drivers and passengers through the Facebook Connect application. By using Facebook profile information, student drivers and passengers could learn about each other. Zimride eventually became the largest carpool company in the United States. Green was introduced to John Zimmer through a mutual friend and the pair initially met on Facebook. The company name came from the country Zimbabwe, where, during a trip in 2005, Green observed locals sharing minivan taxis. Zimride launched at Cornell University, where, after six months, the service had signed up 20% of the campus.

In May 2013, the company officially changed its name from Zimride to Lyft. The change from Zimride to Lyft was the result of a hackathon that sought a means of daily engagement with its users, instead of once or twice a year.

In July 2013, Lyft sold Zimride to Enterprise Holdings, the parent company of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, to enable the company to focus exclusively on the growth of Lyft.

Whereas Zimride was focused on college campuses, Lyft launched as a ridesharing company for shorter trips within cities.

Lyft became known for the large pink furry mustaches drivers attached to the front of their cars. Riders were also encouraged to sit in the front seat and fist bump with drivers upon meeting. In November 2014, the company distanced itself from the fist bump.

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.

In April 2014, Lyft hired two lobbying firms, TwinLogic Strategies, and Jochum Shore & Trossevin, to address the regulatory barriers and opposition it had received since its launch.

Due to regulatory hurdles in New York City, the company altered its business model when establishing Lyft on the East Coast of the United States. Lyft's launch in New York City occurred on the evening of July 25, 2014, and, in accordance with the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) and the approval of the Manhattan Supreme Court, only drivers registered with the TLC were permitted to drive Lyft-branded vehicles in New York City.

In August 2014, the company introduced a shared ride concept, which provides cheaper fares.

In December 2015, Lyft became the first ridesharing company allowed to pick up passengers at Los Angeles International Airport.

In December 2017, Lyft expanded into Canada, with operations in the Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa metropolitan areas.

In March 2018, Lyft partnered with Allscripts to create a platform allowing healthcare providers to arrange rides for patients who lack transportation to appointments. The service would be available to 2,500 hospitals, 180,000 physicians, and approximately 7 million patients.

In November 2018, Lyft acquired Motivate, a bicycle-sharing system and the operator of Capital Bikeshare and Citi Bike. The company also announced plans to add 28,000 Citi Bikes and expand its service.

In March 2019, Lyft became a public company via an initial public offering, raising $2.34 billion at a valuation of $24.3 billion. The company set aside some shares to be given to long-time drivers.

In March 2020, Lyft acquired Halo Cars which pays drivers to display digital advertisements on top of their vehicles.

In April 2020, Lyft laid off 982 employees and furloughed an additional 288 in an effort to reduce operating expenses and adjust cash flows due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The company continued to offer scooters for rent in San Francisco, while Miami government asked Lyft to halt operations.

In August 2020, Lyft began a partnership with rental car company Sixt to let users access rental cars. Most of the rental cars are owned and operated by Sixt, with 85 locations in the US. Lyft receives  commissions from rentals.

In December 2020, Lyft announced that it will launch a multi-city U.S. robotaxi service in 2023 with Motional.

In April 2021, Lyft sold its self-driving car division to Toyota for $550 million. The division had partnerships with General Motors, NuTonomy, Ford Motor Company, GoMentum Station, and Magna International. It also owned Blue Vision Labs, a London-based augmented reality startup, acquired in 2018 for $72 million.

Criticism

Legality of ride sharing
The legality of ridesharing companies by jurisdiction varies; in some areas they have been banned and are considered to be illegal taxicab operations.

Unwanted text messages
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. In addition to $4 million in payments to consumers, the plaintiffs sought $1 million in legal fees.

References

External links

 

 
Transport companies established in 2012
2012 establishments in California
2019 initial public offerings
Android (operating system) software
Companies based in San Francisco
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
IOS software
Location-based software
Ridesharing companies of the United States