Lyft Plans to Drop Shared Rides Offering to Focus on Operations Under New CEO

Lyft might remove its shared ride offerings as one of the company's strategies in entering a new leadership for its newly appointed CEO. The company would focus instead on its core ride-hailing business and ways how to become more profitable.

Dropping Shared Ride Offering

As the company faces new leadership in mid-April, Lyft is considering removing its shared rides offering to shift its focus on the operations of the company. As per an interview with TechCrunch, David Risher stated that other features may also be removed once he takes over the role next month.

This includes features like Wait & See feature that allows riders in certain areas to pay a lower fare when they wait for their driver for a long time. He said, "It's possible that maybe we don't need both of those anymore and that we can focus all our resources on doing a fewer number of things better."

Removing shared rides offering might be a greater option for the company as he described it is time for it to let go. This feature was launched in 2014 on a small scale before expanding the service, in response to its competitor's Uber Pool, which was also launched the same year.

When both companies were affected during the lockdowns, Uber and Lyft shut down their carpooling services before restoring new versions later on. This has been a money pit for both companies as it attracts riders with cheap fares, compared to the solo-ride hailing services.

As of now, nothing is decided yet but this potential move from the company reflects how the company's new management aims to stem its losses and pry some market share back from its main competitor and now sister company Uber.

Uber already took a lot of market share from Lyft in the past few years, including food delivery and even transit services. Uber's market share increased from 62% at the start of 2020 to about 76% today. Meanwhile, Lyft garners only 26%.

Going Back to Basics

Global Village Space reported that Lyft is going back to basics, instead of adding new offerings or services such as delivery or even selling the company. Risher stated that the company's main goal is to focus on the basics of rideshare.

"You can't be losing share to the other guy if you want to be around long term. I think this duopoly is a good thing. In so many other markets, you really want some choice, and I think as a driver, you want choice. It keeps us honest and allows us to play off one another a bit," he added.

Risher is taking over the company in April as Lyft co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer are leaving after 11 years of being the president and CEO. This decision is part of the executive shuffle. Both of the executives will still remain on the board as chair and vice chair for the company's board of directors.