Lyft plans to ditch surge pricing, which riders hate 'with a fiery passion'

Lyft plans to kill off surge pricing in an attempt to boost its rider numbers. On the company's second-quarter earnings call, CEO David Risher admitted the controversial practice is a "a bad form of price raising" that riders loathe "with a fiery passion."

Surge pricing, which Lyft calls Prime Time, typically kicks in when there aren't enough drivers to meet demand. The idea is that off-duty drivers will smell an opportunity to make more money and be more inclined to hop in their car and work for a while. However, riders by and large do not like surge pricing at all.

"We're trying to really get rid of it," Risher said. "Because we've got such good driver supply, which we've worked really hard to get, it's decreased significantly."

A Lyft spokesperson told TechCrunch that its supply of drivers is the highest it's been in three years (since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic). Its driver base has grown by 20 percent year-over-year and the number of average hours each driver works is at a new high, beating 2019 levels. This, Risher said, has helped to reduce the share of rides impacted by surge pricing by 35 percent compared with the previous quarter.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, that means Lyft is making less money. "But it's good for our riders, and it's good for our overall market itself," Risher noted.

Lyft has been lowering prices to stay competitive with Uber and entice riders to use its service. The company's revenue per rider dipped by five percent from the previous quarter. However, the number of active riders grew by nine percent.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lyft-plans-to-ditch-surge-pricing-which-riders-hate-with-a-fiery-passion-170028083.html?src=rss https://www.engadget.com/lyft-plans-to-ditch-surge-pricing-which-riders-hate-with-a-fiery-passion-170028083.html?src=rss
Établi 2y | 9 août 2023, 18:40:32


Connectez-vous pour ajouter un commentaire

Autres messages de ce groupe

Arkansas social media age verification law blocked by federal Judge

An Arkansas law requiring social media companies to verify the ages of their users has been

1 avr. 2025, 21:40:18 | Engadget
Amazon’s new cinema plan is perfect… for the ‘80s

If you ever needed a definitive example of how money doesn’t necessarily buy you success or taste, take a look at Amazon’s studio arm. The mega-retailer’s production division, now known as Amazon-M

1 avr. 2025, 17:10:41 | Engadget
Apple's Find My has finally launched in South Korea

Apple’s Find My feature has finally been enabled in South Korea,

1 avr. 2025, 17:10:40 | Engadget
TikTok's ban deadline is coming. What happens next?

TikTok's deadline to sell off or cede its US operations is once again approaching. The 75-day extension

1 avr. 2025, 17:10:39 | Engadget
Lazarus review: Wildly stylish, but it’s no Cowboy Bebop

You could call Shinichiro Watanabe's Lazarus a retread of his masterpiece, Cowboy Bebop. That’s not to say the show is bad — based on the five episodes I’ve seen so far, Lazar

1 avr. 2025, 17:10:38 | Engadget