Less than two weeks after Lyft rolled out a new service that allows riders to book trips in advance — despite the fact that that action essentially defeats the purpose of an on-demand ride-hailing app — the company’s biggest rival is joining club: Uber will now let users schedule trips between 30 minutes and 30 days in advance. [More]
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Walmart Partners With Uber, Lyft For Online Grocery Delivery
By 6.3.16
Shoppers in more than a dozen cities can already order groceries from Walmart.com then later have someone bring their order out to their waiting car. Soon, these folks won’t even have to leave home. [More]
You Can Now Schedule Your Lyft 24 Hours In Advance
By 5.23.16
Allowing riders to book trips in advance essentially defeats the purpose of an on-demand ride-hailing app. But it’s a concept that Lyft is now ready to provide customers. [More]
Lyft Slashing Weekday Rides In NYC By Half
By 5.23.16
Hitching a ride in a Lyft in New York City will be a bit more forgiving on your wallet this week: the ride-hailing company plans to cut weekday trip prices in half for a limited time. [More]
9 Things We Learned About How Few Americans Are Regularly Taking Part In The “Sharing Economy”
By 5.19.16
Though it might feel like you can turn a corner without seeing an ad for this ride-hailing app or that on-demand delivery service, Pew Research Center’s first-ever survey of how American adults interact with the new digital economy shows there’s a big difference between how many people have ever tried one of these services and the people who use them on a regular basis. [More]
Lyft Agrees To $27 Million Settlement To Keep Drivers As Independent Contractors
By 5.12.16
Last month, the judge rejected a proposed settlement in a class action against ride-hailing app Lyft, saying that the $12.25 million offer was too low and didn’t account for business expansion in California since the original class action was filed. The company has now agreed on a revised settlement, pending the judge’s approval. [More]
Atlanta Puts Airport’s Ride-Share Proposal On Hold For The Moment
By 5.11.16
If you’re looking to hail a ride at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport any time soon, you won’t be hopping in an Uber quite yet: after seeing how Newark Liberty International Airport deals with ride-sharing companies, city officials are hitting pause on proposed rules that required drivers to submit to fingerprint-based background checks. [More]
Uber, Lyft Suspend Service In Austin Over Rules Requiring Drivers’ Fingerprints
By 5.9.16
If you’re looking for a ride in Austin you’ll have one less option starting today, after Uber and Lyft suspended operations there over city requirements that include fingerprint-based background checks for all drivers. [More]
Is The “Sharing Economy” Sharing Your Data With Law Enforcement?
By 5.5.16
Airbnb and VRBO are shaking up the hospitality industry by letting anyone with a spare room become an innkeeper. Uber and Lyft are disrupting the for-hire car market by letting you turn your car into a taxi. While these new platforms might be opening up the so-called “sharing” economy, some of them may also be a bit too willing to share user data with law enforcement. [More]
GM & Lyft Set To Test Self-Driving Taxis Within A Year
By 5.5.16
It hasn’t taken General Motors long to figure out how to spend its $500 million investment in Lyft. A month after the carmaker said it would use some of those funds to rent SUVs to prospective drivers, the partners unveiled plans to begin testing self-driving taxis on public roads in California. [More]
California Regulators Might Stop Lyft And Uber Driver Car-Rental Programs
By 4.21.16
Drivers for ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft need relatively new cars, so a program where drivers lease new General Motors vehicles for $99 per week seemed like a good match. It’s being tested in Chicago now, and the companies plan to expand the program. They won’t be expanding it to California, though: regulators there will vote today on a proposal that specifically bans such programs in the state. [More]
Lyft Raised The Cap On ‘Prime Time’ Price Hikes, Forgot To Tell Customers
By 4.20.16
One of the key innovations of ride-hailing apps has been that their pricing is sensitive to demand: that is, prices go up as there are more customers demanding rides. Uber calls this surge pricing, whcih is such strong branding that people have started to call similar demand-sensitive pricing programs at other companies by the same term. Lyft calls it Prime Time, and did away with previously-announced caps on price hikes in February, but forgot to notify passengers. [More]
San Francisco Requiring Uber, Lyft Drivers To Get Business Licenses
By 4.15.16
Though you might think of Uber and Lyft drivers as employees of those ridesharing services, the companies maintain that drivers are independent contractors who simply use the Uber or Lyft platforms to connect with passengers. That now means that several thousand of these independent operators in San Francisco must each obtain a business license.
[More]
Judge Rejects Proposed Settlement In Lyft Class Action
By 4.8.16
To settle a class action filed by their drivers in California, ride-hailing service Lyft and the drivers’ attorney agreed to a settlement back in January. One flaw with the settlement was that it had been negotiated based on the company’s roster of drivers in June 2015, right before Lyft expanded significantly, including in California. The judge now won’t approve that figure, declaring it to be too low. [More]
Lyft Line Carpooling Service Expanding To Six New Markets
By 4.5.16
Sometimes, you might want a car to pick you up to get you where you’re going, but you may not necessarily want to pay for the whole trip. That’s why some ride-hailing companies offer carpooling options that allow passengers to share rides with strangers, and in turn, share the cost. More Lyft customers will have that choice soon, with six new markets slated to join the company’s Line carpooling service. [More]
21 Pranks, Fake Products, And Other Corporate Attempts At April Fools’ Day Relevance
By 4.1.16
Ever since April 1, 1922 when our print forerunner, The Consumerist Bugle-Gazette, ran an April Fools’ Day cover story that unwittingly — but accurately — announced the death of exiled Austrian Emperor Charles I, we’ve not tempted fate and avoided such tomfoolery. But others aren’t burdened by these ghosts of Aprils gone awry. [More]
Facebook, Reddit, Wells Fargo, Bank Of America CEOs Among Those Urging North Carolina To Repeal New Anti-LGBT Law
By 3.31.16
Earlier this month, in a hurried legislative process, North Carolina lawmakers passed HB2, a bill that overrides and prevents local governments from establishing anti-discrimination rules against gay and transgender people. This morning, advocacy groups delivered a letter to NC Gov. Pat McCrory signed by top executives from more than 100 companies, all calling for the state to repeal the law. [More]
Lyft Launching Carpool Service In San Francisco Area
By 3.29.16
If you live in a big city, you might dream of a slightly faster, less crowded commute to work via the carpool lane. While some consumer have gotten creative in their mission to use said lane — and subsequently been caught — the idea of actually carpooling to and from work can be an awkward and stressful endeavor when it comes to scheduling. Lyft’s latest service hopes to alleviate some of that pain. [More]
