Lyft rolls out new payment measures to gain more drivers
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Lyft says it plans to attract more drivers to its ride-hailing platform by unveiling new payment measures for longer-than-estimated rides. These measures from the company come as Lyft (LYFT) is looking to entice new drivers and retain current drivers on its platform.
Drivers’ pay will be adjusted if there’s an unexpected inconvenience — like traffic or a detour, which will make the ride longer than estimated. The company said in February that in its earnings commitment, which rolled out nationwide in May, drivers will earn 70% of their riders’ payments at the end of each week. If drivers do not reach 70%, they will be paid the difference.
The rideshare company’s “preferred drivers” status is a program for drivers who have met the safe driving and reliability metrics and will get rewarded with a bonus or additional ride requests depending on the region, a Lyft spokesperson told Quartz.
Lyft also said that drivers who conclude rides in a particular area where they aren’t eligible to receive riders are “less likely” to get a trip on the way back and will receive additional pay on top of their upfront fare, per Fast Company.
“If you are obsessed with drivers as customers and provide a platform that will make their experience coming to the platform, whether they’re a mom or a dad or an immigrant or entrepreneur or caregiver coming to the platform, if we can make that work for them, they’ll drive more. There’ll be better reliability for riders. Riders will come back more,” said Jeremy Bird, Lyft’s EVP of Driver Experiences, to Fast Company.
Additionally, the company announced that it has partnered with Merit America to provide drivers with courses and with access to affordable health insurance with Stride Health.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated what Lyft announced. The company will pay drivers more when there are unexpected inconveniences, such as traffic or detours. There will be no additional charges for riders.
