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.
The ride-hailing company announced today that it would begin testing Lyft Carpool in the San Francisco Bay area as another other option for customers looking to get from one place to another in a car full of strangers.
Lyft Carpool is a partnership between the company, the California Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and its 511 Rideshare program, to pair Lyft drivers with riders headed in the same direction.
Under the system, riders call up the Lyft app, tell it when they want to get to work, and it will connect them with a Carpool driver who shares the same commute. Prices range from $4 to $10.
Drivers, who only pick up one passenger, will make $10 per trip, with the possibility of bringing in $400 each month, Lyft says.
“The unused seats in most drivers’ cars represent the biggest untapped source of transit capacity in the Bay Area,” Melanie Crotty, MTC’s Director of Operations, says in a statement. “We see the partnership with Lyft as a great way to harness both technology and brand identity to put that capacity to work.”
While Uber offers a similar service — uberPOOL — that option allows drivers to pick up more than one passenger along their desired route at any time of the day. For it’s part, Lyft’s Carpool service appears to focus solely on one passenger and their driver’s work commute.
The new service isn’t Lyft’s only carpooling service. The company previously launched Lyft Line, but that option only shuttled riders a short distance within city limits.
Lyft says it plans to expand the service to other cities in the future.
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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