As Lyft has continued to grow it has looked at new avenues to gain ground on Uber. The newest venture in this effort is a premium ride service for several U.S. cities.
Give Em' A Lyft
Lyft has decided to launch its own black car service for customers looking for a premium car ride. Black car service is traditionally luxury service, meaning the cars are usually flat black with leather seats and a few other perks in the car itself.
The two options Lyft is giving customers looking for a luxury car service are Lyft Lux and Lyft SUV. It's basically the same service, just the former is for four passengers and the latter is for six passengers. This move is Lyft's answer to Uber Black, Uber's own luxury car service. The cars usually available under this tier are Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, BMW, and Cadillac, to name a few.
This is not a replacement to Lyft Premier but is simply a third tier. Premier, much like Lux and SUV, was introduced last year as Lyft's answer to Uber Select. Premier and Select are basically high-end premium car services for those looking for a luxury car service without paying for a black car.
The service is launching in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, and Chicago. Lyft hopes to expand the tier into 20 cities by the end of the summer. And while it does have another avenue to challenge Uber, Lyft still doesn't have anything to compete with UberWave for wheelchair-bound customers and UberXL for a general SUV ride.
Jumping On An Opening
While Uber has been able to maintain its dominance in the field, Lyft has been slowly gaining ground in competing more directly with Uber. It has also taken strides in building partnerships with other companies, with the most recent deal being Lyft's new partnership with Waymo to have self-driving cars available under the service.
It doesn't hurt that Lyft doesn't have the turbulent year that Uber has had in terms of public perception. The first hit when Uber continued offering rides to airports in the midst of the travel ban the Trump administration tried to implement in January. This resulted in major backlash from the public since other ride services canceled airport routes in protest. The second came when a video started circulating of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick yelling at an Uber Black driver because of poor fares. The company has also been subject to a self-commissioned investigation into poor corporate culture and sexual harassment.
While Lyft is still at second place, things are definitely starting to align for the company to become a major competitor to Uber.
