Lyft reached its highest number of active riders across ride-hailing, scooters and bike-share since the first quarter of 2020, the company reported during its third-quarter earnings announcement Monday afternoon. Total quarterly revenue of $1.05 billion marked an all-time high, the company said.
During the earnings call, Lyft said ridership was strong on the East Coast, while the top West Coast markets trailed with only about 65% of pre-pandemic ridership. Co-founder and President John Zimmer said New York City and Miami “continue to be extremely strong,” while Los Angeles and San Francisco are “lagging behind.” Zimmer also noted that airport rides are at an all-time high, accounting for about 10.4% of rides.
Additionally, more than 2 million first-time Lyft users tried it “because of our bike and scooter systems,” Zimmer said.
The ride-hailing company last week announced plans to lay off about 13% of its workforce. Co-founder and CEO Logan Green explained that Lyft added to its staff from late 2021 through the first half of 2022. “The reduction in force effectively takes us back to the same team size that we were at in Q3 of last year,” Green said.
In Uber’s earnings announcement on Nov. 1, the company said its number of active riders exceeded September 2019 levels. Gross bookings for its delivery business in the U.S. and Canada were up 19% year over year. While Uber has not announced layoffs this year, it said it would “treat hiring as a privilege” in a May email to employees, according to CNBC.
Both ride-hailing companies reported active drivers at their highest global levels since the beginning of the pandemic, but Uber drivers in the U.S. are only at about 80% of 2019 counts.
Uber’s efforts to encourage greater use of electric vehicles by its drivers continues with its all-electric offering expanding to 25 cities across North America. In California, EVs accounted for 9% of miles driven during the quarter.
The company also announced a 10-year agreement with Motional last month to provide autonomous ride-hail and delivery services in U.S. cities. “Given the state of AV technology today, we believe AV operators will need to rely on network partners to meet consumer expectations,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in prepared remarks.
Both companies were optimistic about continued growth in the fourth quarter, with Lyft expecting a slowdown in bike and scooter rides in winter.
