In an effort to save expenses, Lyft has announced that it will no longer provide stand-alone dockless bikes and scooters and that it will be eliminating certain positions.
In July 2023, the company that runs the Citibike service in New York City and similar rental programmes in other key American cities announced that it was investigating options for the unit due to “strong inbound interest.”
“We are discontinuing our dockless scooters in Washington, DC, and are exploring alternatives for our dockless bikes and scooters in Denver,” the company said.
The business will rename its bike and scooter division as “Lyft Urban Solutions” as part of the transition.
In many American cities, the company partners with Bird and Spin to provide access to its fleet of bikes and scooters through the Lyft app; it does not operate its own fleet of vehicles.
At the 2023 end, Lyft announced that it would lay off approximately 1% of its nearly 3,000 employees and incur charges of between USD 34 million and USD 46 million, most of which were related to asset disposal costs.
The company stated that by the end of 2024, adjusted operating income will have increased by roughly USD 20 million on an annual basis thanks to cost savings from the restructuring, enhanced operations, and better sales strategies.
While Uber Technologies is emerging as a fierce competitor for Lyft, the latter’s poor September quarter forecast raised doubts about its capacity to handle this competition.
Since David Risher became Lyft’s CEO in early 2024, he has reduced employment while also introducing new initiatives and higher driver earnings to increase rideshare demand.
Meanwhile, Lyft has debuted a new feature designed to help commuters stay within budget.
“To make your day more predictable, we’re launching price lock, a new subscription that caps the price of your regular commute. We know reliable pricing is particularly important for commuters. They know what their ride should cost and hate it when prices change,” Audrey Liu, executive vice president of rider experience at Lyft, said on the company’s blog recently.
According to the blog post, the subscription lets customers pay USD 2.99 per month to lock in a commute price, capping the price of rides they take regularly, a system that Lyft says lets riders save up to USD 40 each month.
“If the price of the ride is lower than your locked-in price, you’ll pay the lower rate. Your locked-in price will be protected, even during peak hours. No need to keep checking prices,” the company blog remarked.
Lyft is also reportedly working with United Way and Goodwill to help job seekers get to their interviews. And for people who have just landed jobs, and shared that news on LinkedIn, Lyft will reward them by sponsoring their rides for their first work week.