Lyft - Statistics & Facts
Lyft entered the sharing economy transportation market in 2012 challenging the position of Uber. Since its launch , Lyft has attempted to compete with Uber. However, while Lyft is the second largest ride-hailing provider globally, holding a market share of 8 percent in 2022, the company only operates in the United States and Canada. Meanwhile, Uber has expanded globally and controls a quarter of the global ride-hailing and taxi market. Like Uber, Lyft has expanded its offering in the sharing economy beyond its core business of ride-hailing. It also offers bike and e-scooter sharing services under a variety of brands in multiple U.S. cities. Lyft also introduced food delivery services, during the COVID-19 pandemic, which have since been dropped.
Sharing economy organizations challenge traditional businesses by utilizing high-tech solutions to offer tailor-made services to customers. Ridesharing is one of the main services provided by this market. Ridesharing services offer the comfort and convenience of individualized transport services through an app-interface. In 2023, there were roughly 1.7 billion ride-hailing service users globally and this figure is projected to rise to nearly 2.3 billion by 2029.
Lyft operates bike-sharing and electric scooter sharing schemes in several cities in the United States and is the market leader for bike hire in the U.S., holding a market share of 28 percent. While Uber does not own a micro-mobility business, Lime and JUMP electric scooters and e-bikes can be hired through the Uber app, with Lime being one of the main competitors to Lyft in the U.S. shared micro-mobility markets.
Sharing economy organizations challenge traditional businesses by utilizing high-tech solutions to offer tailor-made services to customers. Ridesharing is one of the main services provided by this market. Ridesharing services offer the comfort and convenience of individualized transport services through an app-interface. In 2023, there were roughly 1.7 billion ride-hailing service users globally and this figure is projected to rise to nearly 2.3 billion by 2029.
Lyft struggling to increase customer base
Lyft’s ridership collapsed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between the fourth quarter of 2019, the last quarter largely unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the second quarter of 2020, the company’s number of active riders dropped by 62 percent. Prior to this point, active ridership numbers had been on a steady trend of growth. Lyft regained riders throughout 2020 and 2021, but this growth began stagnating towards the end of 2021 and the company has only just been able to regain the riders lost during the pandemic. As of the fourth quarter of 2023, the number of active riders remained at around 98 percent of active riders recorded in Q4 of 2019. However, Lyft has been able to reduce its net loss compared to the pandemic years to around 340 million U.S. in 2023. While Lyft has remained unprofitable, its competitor Uber was able to to post a net profit of nearly 1.9 billion U.S. dollars in the same year.Diversifying the shared mobility offering
As the ride-hailing market has matured and the companies operating these services have established themselves, they have begun to expand into other sharing service markets. Lyft’s primary competitor Uber has invested in delivery services, which now account for nearly a third of its revenue. Both companies have also expanded into the shared micro-mobility sector.Lyft operates bike-sharing and electric scooter sharing schemes in several cities in the United States and is the market leader for bike hire in the U.S., holding a market share of 28 percent. While Uber does not own a micro-mobility business, Lime and JUMP electric scooters and e-bikes can be hired through the Uber app, with Lime being one of the main competitors to Lyft in the U.S. shared micro-mobility markets.
