Lyft Testing Paid Memberships That Offer Discounted Line Rides

Right now, anyone can hail a ride on Lyft or Uber, as long as they have the app installed on their phone — there are no monthly fees, just what you pay for each ride. But there could be good business in paid memberships, which is something Lyft says it’s going to test out for the month of November.

Uber started testing its own membership idea with flat-rate rides in some cities in August, and now Lyft is joining in the fun with two different offerings for the month of November:

• Pass 1: $2 Line Rides
Pay $20 up front and every Line ride you take in November costs only $2

• Pass 2: Free Line Rides
Pay $29 up front and your Line rides are covered for the month

A limited quantity of memberships are available in the following cities: Los Angeles, Miami, San Diego, Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. If you want to buy a pass, you have until the sale period ends on Oct. 31.

Last August, Uber started offering Uber Plus memberships in a handful of cities, which offers UberX rides at a flate rate of $7 each or UberPool rides for $2 each.

But there was a limit on the number of rides you could take in a month: pay $20 a month and you’d get 20 flat-rate trips, or pay $30 and receive 40 trips. The company is now providing unlimited rides instead in some test areas like Manhattan, but it’s more expensive, at $100 for unlimited rides for the first two weeks, or $200 to cover a whole month.

Lyft’s plan appears to included unlimited rides, so if you find yourself taking a lot of trips in a month, this could be a cheaper option.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist