Dive Brief:
- Lyft is partnering with Denver's Regional Transportation District (RTD) to begin featuring nearby transit options on the Lyft app.
- In the "Transit" section of the app, users will be able to find nearby bus and rail stops, walking directions to those stops and transit schedules, as well as the locations of Lyft scooters and shared rides.
- Denver joins Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Santa Monica, CA and Washington, DC in offering transit information directly through the Lyft app.
Dive Insight:
Just last month, Uber also began offering transit information from Denver's RTD through its app. The move furthers both Uber's and Lyft's multimodal mobility strategies. Last year both made great strides toward that goal with Lyft acquiring bike-share operator Motivate and Uber acquiring dockless bike and scooter company Jump.
Lyft has long said its goal is to reduce the amount of cars on the road. Some consider that a contradictory statement from a company that began as a car-based service, but the expansion into other forms of mobility reinforces Lyft's assertion. Last year the company even challenged Chicago drivers to ditch their cars for a month and get free credits toward Lyft carpool rides, bike-share and transit. It eventually expanded the challenge to include drivers in more than 35 cities across America.
American consumers increasingly prefer convenience and numerous options in the goods and services they purchase. Consumers now also use more shared services and rely on multimodal transportation. Lyft partnering with transit agencies to inform users of other transportation options is a smart move to stay current with consumer preferences. It has also partnered with cities, such as Phoenix and Charlotte, NC, on first-mile/last-mile initiatives to provide discounts to riders who use Lyft to get to and from transit stops.
