# Lyft defies predictions by continuing to grow as a rival to Uber



## chi1cabby (May 28, 2014)

*http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-0105-lyft-growth-20160105-story.html*


----------



## JHawk (Oct 27, 2015)

Interesting take-away is the driver numbers quoted....the article positions the numbers as not an "apples-to-apples" comparison but Lyft with 315k drivers compared to over 400k for Uber is a smaller gap than I thought. I know it's different in every market, but good to hear that the disparity in number of cars on the road isn't as big of a gap as some might think. 

The down-stream effects of equal driver pools could provide a major edge to one service or the other if a large majority of those drivers are "dual platform" cars. A large number of requests for one service reduces the car supply on the other service for the time required to finish those rides.


----------



## LAuberX (Jun 3, 2014)

Here is the gold, and why we see the constant on boarding of new drivers for both Uber/Lyft:

"But once you hit three minute pickup times, there's no benefit to having more people on the network," Zimmer said.

To have a driver 3 minutes away from any passenger on Lyft it takes a LOT of drivers... NO WAY all of them can make money.


----------



## andaas (May 19, 2015)

And I wonder what percentage of drivers are active with both services?


----------



## JHawk (Oct 27, 2015)

The other good line was the last 'graph about Lyft servicing the millennial market better than Uber. Millenials are the "golden goose" market in a lot of different industries because they provide a large market with upward financial mobility, but have constantly shifting demands, tastes, and perceptions, so it's a tough nut to crack.


----------



## JHawk (Oct 27, 2015)

andaas said:


> And I wonder what percentage of drivers are active with both services?


I've wondered this too....however in the absence of any type of real "exclusivity agreement" anyone who drives a reasonable number of hours per week for one service owes it to themselves to be on both platforms. There's really no down-side to doing so.


----------



## grayspinner (Sep 8, 2015)

I like that the article points out things that I feel differentiate lyft - I'm glad to see that lyft is aware of their market advantages.

The in app tip feature gives drivers am incentive to provide better service. This is a huge benefit to the pax & is becoming more and more noticeable. 

While uber is doing away with cancelation fees, lyft gives the drivers the full $5 - but you have to make an effort to contact the pax. So for uber pax, drivers have no incentive to try & find them if the pin is off or to wait, but there is incentive on lyft to wait & make contact - this is all better customer service for the pax.

Lyft encourages the pax to treat their driver like a friend - to tip, to be friendly, they offer discounts to riders so get repeated 5* ratings - drivers feel more appreciated & thus provide better customer service.

Millennials care about corporate ethics. They would rather use a service that treats drivers better, isn't sending customer service overseas & isn't trying to drive everyone else out of business. 

I'm glad lyft is seeing these small but important differences between the two services - this means they will continue to differentiate themselves in ways that benefit the driver because that makes for a better pax experience & improves their market share.


----------



## MiddleClassedOut (Jun 11, 2015)

I picked up a guy on Lyft who said he was recruiter for Uber - one of those guys who hangs out at car dealerships and gas stations and signs up drivers.

He said Uber was very stuck in their ways - tipping will never, ever happen for instance. He said he saw one presentation that predicted that within 2 years there would be more Lyft drivers than Uber drivers. Looks like it's happening ahead of schedule.

But instead of Uber treating drivers better, they increase recruitment efforts. Eventually supply constraints will hit them - especially as states pass laws mandating a certain maximum age for cars.

In PA the forthcoming legislation says 2006 I believe. However, since Uber is still technically illegal in Philadelphia County (because Philadelphia does not fall under the temporary legislation) the age requirement is only the year 2000!


----------



## DRiver II (May 24, 2015)

so Uber is the Walmart/Sam's Club, while Lyft is more like the Costco...


----------



## grayspinner (Sep 8, 2015)

DRiver II said:


> so Uber is the Walmart/Sam's Club, while Lyft is more like the Costco...


I use this analogy a lot when pax ask me the difference between uber & lyft.


----------



## driveLA (Aug 15, 2014)

i honestly think lyft is going to outlast uber 

i see lyft users as more civilized, upbeat, and just cooler

uber is just looking more and more tacky by the day. old and out of touch.

in tech the first to come along will grow huge but the next one is the one that gets it right and sticks around.


----------



## Amsoil Uber Connect (Jan 14, 2015)

^^^ As in My Space to Face Book.


----------



## BaitNSwitch (May 12, 2015)

I always liked Lyft better because even though they don't care about you as an individual driver, they realize deep down that the drivers are not an infinitely replaceable commodity. So they offer perks for working hard.

I think it's Zimmer vs Kalanick, really. Kalanick is so out of touch with the common man that he cannot understand what the drivers demands are. I recall when Lyft first started, Zimmer himself gave rides to people (from their weekly newsletter)

However, regardless of their varying degrees of concern for us, both are snakes that are planning on turning on us in the long term:

*"|Uber, Lyft drivers know they will be replaced by self-driving cars"*

http://mashable.com/2016/01/07/uber-lyft-self-driving-cars/#QTVYUD2EWEqu


----------



## JHawk (Oct 27, 2015)

Amsoil Uber Connect said:


> ^^^ As in My Space to Face Book.


I like to think there's a chanceUber/Lyft will end up in the world of on-demand transportation what Netscape/AOL were to the internet. Two large players who helped establish the space, but ultimately were replaced by other companies who learned from the originator's mistakes and built a better mousetrap.


----------



## DeeFree (Apr 8, 2015)

JHawk said:


> I like to think there's a chanceUber/Lyft will end up in the world of on-demand transportation what Netscape/AOL were to the internet. Two large players who helped establish the space, but ultimately were replaced by other companies who learned from the originator's mistakes and built a better mousetrap.


Yes, but the better mousetrap will involve driverless cars and will not be of any benefit to drivers. I ask all my riders if they would take a driverless car and ALL the young people say YES!!!!


----------



## Lord Summerisle (Aug 15, 2015)

Lyft will continue to grow as long as Uber remains an utterly vile noxious company that no-one enjoys working for.


----------



## DeeFree (Apr 8, 2015)

driveLA said:


> i honestly think lyft is going to outlast uber
> 
> i see lyft users as more civilized, upbeat, and just cooler
> 
> ...


I like Lyft too. Never drove for Uber so I have no personal experience to compare the two. But answer me this please: You would be willing to drive for $.95 a mile? Which is really $.76 a mile after the 20% or $.71 a mile after 25% for new drivers. I won't even bother deducting the $.57 a mile IRS-deemed expense rate or the phone and data charges some drivers incur.

I just got my 1099 from Lyft and made$5,529.96 net (less Lyft fees and plus $19 tips). I drove for three months - Oct, Nov and Dec 2015. When I started driving my car had 9000 miles, on Jan 1 it had 24,000. I kept detailed records of my driving because I am a financial analyst by profession and numbers and results interest me. My records and Lyft's 1099 show me that:

1. I put 13,000 miles on my car driving for Lyft.
2. Only 6,017 miles were passengers in my car (46%)

I think I'll stop here and put the rest of this post in the "Pay" section. But, yeah, I just couldn't swing it at $.95 a mile.


----------



## observer (Dec 11, 2014)

A few years back I took to going out and shooting pool with my brothers and a couple friends.

I don't drink so I never went bar hopping and playing pool. But, I quickly learned that I could win quite a few games against more experienced players, just by letting them make mistakes.

This may be Lyfts strategy.


----------



## ABC123DEF (Jun 9, 2015)

LAuberX said:


> Here is the gold, and why we see the constant on boarding of new drivers for both Uber/Lyft:
> 
> "But once you hit three minute pickup times, there's no benefit to having more people on the network," Zimmer said.
> 
> To have a driver 3 minutes away from any passenger on Lyft it takes a LOT of drivers... NO WAY all of them can make money.


So, these guys actually ARE aware that many drivers are losing money while they rake in the dough?


----------



## BaitNSwitch (May 12, 2015)

Night and day difference between Kalanick and zimmer.
_*
It's 8:33 p.m. on Dec. 31, and Lyft co-founder and President John Zimmer is sitting in his hybrid Volkswagen Jetta on a side street in San Francisco's Mission District, waiting for his first rider of the night. For the third year in a row, Zimmer is spending his New Year's Eve the same way thousands of his company's contract employees do: driving around the city, catching fares.*_

http://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrow...e-with-lyft-co-founder-john-zimmer#.qjv7rN5be

I wonder if Kalanick was partying or out there driving with us...


----------



## ABC123DEF (Jun 9, 2015)

Of course he drove. He said on a late-night talk show that he had a perfect 5.0 rating.


----------



## ATL2SD (Aug 16, 2015)

ABC123DEF said:


> Of course he drove. He said on a late-night talk show that he had a perfect 5.0 rating.


That lying prick is a 5-star beech.


----------



## Casuale Haberdasher (Dec 7, 2014)

chi1cabby said:


> *http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-0105-lyft-growth-20160105-story.html*


POST # 1/chi1cabby: Bostonian Bison
Thanks You for this
Hyperlinked "LATimes.com" Article that
after Fawning Stories about #[F]Uber and
Sociopathic Serial Scofflaw and #[T]Ruth-
less Leader #Travis K. Whatapr♤♡k! it is
A DELIGHT to hear Encouraging News
about Relative "Good Guy" Lyft and
"The Zimster".

Bison: St. Comity IS "Bison Approved" !


----------



## Dan Coogan (Nov 19, 2015)

driveLA said:


> i honestly think lyft is going to outlast uber
> 
> in tech the first to come along will grow huge but the next one is the one that gets it right and sticks around.


Lyft has been around for about 7 years... They were first.


----------



## yoyodyne (Oct 17, 2015)

DeeFree said:


> Yes, but the better mousetrap will involve driverless cars and will not be of any benefit to drivers. I ask all my riders if they would take a driverless car and ALL the young people say YES!!!!


I had a thought about that last night. Imagine the person who has to clean out those cars at the end of the night? Or the pax who gets the car after the previous rider spilled soda / puked / released bodily fluids on the seat?


----------



## DeeFree (Apr 8, 2015)

yoyodyne said:


> I had a thought about that last night. Imagine the person who has to clean out those cars at the end of the night? Or the pax who gets the car after the previous rider spilled soda / puked / released bodily fluids on the seat?


That is something that has to be considered. I'm guessing the next pax reports the problem and gets either a clean car or a discount.


----------



## CowboyBill (Nov 12, 2015)

JHawk said:


> I like to think there's a chanceUber/Lyft will end up in the world of on-demand transportation what Netscape/AOL were to the internet. Two large players who helped establish the space, but ultimately were replaced by other companies who learned from the originator's mistakes and built a better mousetrap.


The new ride share coming is Juno. It may do just what you say.

Another new one is GetMe is another contender.
Sorry I tried to post links, but the forun would not allow.


----------



## UberLou (May 5, 2015)

Here is one to twist your mind. Most Lyft drivers only drive for Lyft, but a huge percentage of Uber drivers drive for Lyft as well.


----------

