Lyft is a mobile app that connects customers with rideshare vehicle drivers, motorized scooters, and much more. Originally known for its quirky pink mustaches and casual attitudes, Lyft is now a publicly-traded company, operating in 644 United States cities and 12 Canadian cities.
We’ve compiled the most important Lyft statistics for 2021. We’ve noted when data sources are from our proprietary driver surveys and when they’re from trusted third parties.
The RideShare Guy is the largest and most respected publisher on the topic of Lyft. We’ve interviewed the Lyft Chief Operating Officer on our podcast and YouTube channel (77,000 subscribers) and we reach more than 300,000 rideshare drivers per month across our media platforms.
Key Lyft Statistics
The biggest Lyft stat you should know is that Lyft is the second-largest ridesharing app by volume, according to Digital Trends, in the United States.
Lyft’s app connects passengers with drivers who will drive them from point A to point B. Lyft is the closest competitor to Uber in the United States market, with Lyft holding approximately a 30% market share (as of November 2020).
Founded in June 2012 by John Zimmer and Logan Green, Lyft was known and easily recognized by its big pink mustache. Down the road, this branding tactic was seen as too “cute” and a turnoff for people considering trying out the app.
In keeping with its competition, Lyft went public in March 2019, opening on Nasdaq at $87.24 per share. In November 2020, Lyft’s market cap was $11.72 billion.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Lyft has considered expanding its services to include delivery to better compete in a stay-at-home market.
Lyft Background
- Founded in June 2012
- Headquartered at 185 Berry Street, Suite 5000, San Francisco, Calif.
- Founded as Lyft by John Zimmer and Logan Green as a service of Zimride, a long-distance intercity carpooling company they had founded in May 2007.
- Current CEO: Logan Green
- Company Type: Lyft started as a private company and then went public as NASDAQ: LYFT.
- IPO Date: March 28, 2019
Lyft active riders per quarter in millions
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission:
2019:
- January – March 30: 20.5
- April – June 30: 21.8
- July – September 30: 22.3
2020:
- January – March 30: 21.2
- April – June 30: 8.7
- July – September 30: 12.5
Keep in mind, the 2020 numbers were greatly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Lyft Total Revenue
Total revenue includes revenue from contracts with customers (ASC 606) and Rental revenue (ASC 842).
- Nine months ended September 30, 2019: $2,598,890
- Nine months ended September 30, 2020: $1,794,801
Lyft Adjusted EBITDA, % (Loss)
2019:
- Nine months ended September 30: (21.1%)
2020:
- Nine months ended September 30: (33.7%)
Lyft valuation/market cap
Lyft, Inc.’s market cap was $15.898 billion for December 26, 2020
The Enterprise Value on December 24, 2020, was 13.72B
Lyft funding rounds
According to reporting from Crunchbase, “Lyft has raised a total of $4.9B in funding over 20 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Mar 1, 2019 from a Secondary Market round.”
Lyft statistics show that Lyft has 72 investors including Fidelity Management and Research Company, Magna International, CapitalG, and others.
Lyft also has 11 acquisitions, with their most recent taking place on February 22, 2020, when they acquired Halo Cars.
Lyft Stock price/sales (TTM)
- September 30, 2019: 4.13
- December 31, 2019: 3.92
- March 31, 2020: 1.69
- June 30, 2020: 2.59
- September 30, 2020: 2.55
- Current (December 26, 2020): 5.34
Lyft Revenue Statistics
According to Lyft’s Q3 results, Lyft statistics say that they saw a year-over-year decrease of 48 percent from 2019 to 2020.
“Net loss for Q3 2020 was $459.5 million versus a net loss of $463.5 million in the same period of 2019,” the report stated. “Net loss for Q3 includes $170.7 million of stock-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses and $0.7 million related to changes to the liabilities for insurance required by regulatory agencies attributable to historical periods.”
This chart was taken from Lyft’s Q3 earnings report and it shows that their Q3 revenue grew by 47% quarter-over-quarter, reflecting ongoing recovery from the losses seen due to the pandemic.
Lyft Revenue Per Ride
Lyft has more recently been seen as the more affordable option between Lyft and Uber, at least for riders. This may indicate Lyft is also paying its drivers less than its counterpart. According to Ars Technica, Lyft keeps around 38% of the revenue from each ride, compared to Uber keeping approximately 35%.
As researched and reported by Barrons, Lyft “isn’t going to disclose any longer the total amount riders spend when taking a Lyft.”
Barrons quoted Lyft CEO Brian Roberts as stating, “We included bookings and take rate in the [pre-IPO filings] so investors could understand the monetization trends. We’re now aggressively investing in new areas, including those where revenue equals bookings. So we really want to try to avoid investor confusion.”
Lyft Driver Statistics
Pay and flexibility are the two most important things to rideshare drivers based on a survey RSG conducted.
54% of Lyft drivers say that the company needs to do more for driver safety and 53% of Uber drivers say the same thing. It’s no wonder that 22% of drivers reported carrying some type of weapon while driving, even if it’s against Uber and Lyft policies to do so.
Despite there being numerous rideshare insurance options, nearly 40% of drivers still don’t have rideshare insurance.
54.9% of drivers reported they do have rideshare insurance while 39.3% said they do not.
The majority of drivers at 31.67% hold a bachelor’s degree. The next largest percentage at 26.5% have some college credit but no degree.
How Many Lyft Drivers Are There?
In a recent interview on the Pivot podcast, co-founder and President of Lyft John Zimmer said that there are currently one million active Lyft drivers (as of November 2020), and two million drivers on an annual basis.
Pre-COVID, this statistic means Lyft had two million drivers on the road. With demand down 50% since last year, Lyft currently has one million active drivers.
However, since our survey has shown that ⅔ of all drivers work for both Uber and Lyft, it could be that a lot of those Lyft drivers are technically ‘active’ with Lyft, but they get a majority of their rides with Uber.
As of October 1, 2019, Lyft had about 305,000 drivers in California who completed trips within the past year, although that number has likely declined due to the coronavirus.
There is a large turn-over rate of Lyft drivers. According to Harry Campbell, The Rideshare Guy, who has spoken to thousands of drivers and written the book on rideshare (The Rideshare Guide: Everything You Need to Know about Driving for Uber, Lyft, and Other Ridesharing Companies), this is why so any people quit driving for rideshare:
- It’s harder than people expect. There are challenges drivers face throughout their day, and they have to be able to juggle customer service skills, safe driving and at least the basics about running a business.
- New drivers are thrown to the wolves. They don’t get hours of training on how to prioritize and be more efficient. Most drivers just end up learning by trial and error. Some drivers may not have even tried Uber as a passenger before, so they are completely in the dark about how things should work.
- The pay is not as good as drivers may think. There are driver expenses to take into account, most especially filling the car with gas—sometimes daily.
Lyft Driver Satisfaction
In our latest Driver Satisfaction Survey, we found that out of nearly 1,000 driver responses, 52% were satisfied with Lyft.
While Lyft statistics show that pay was shown as the top priority for drivers, that’s not the only factor that goes into driver satisfaction. Driver flexibility is a close second, followed by safety.
How Much Do People Make with Lyft?
Source: https://www.earnest.com/blog/sharing-economy-income-data/
According to a study conducted by Earnest, a loan company, Lyft drivers reported earning an average of $377/month. One thing to bear in mind is this survey does not account for how many hours these drivers were actively driving on the app.
Here it’s reported that 32% of Lyft drivers surveyed earn between $0-$99 per month, while only 3% earn between $1500-$1999 on the app each month.
What drivers actually earn is very hard to pinpoint. Some would say their earnings before expenses (such as gas, rideshare endorsement on their insurance, etc.), while others would report earnings after expenses.
Earnings also vary by state/location. Each driver is given a rate card for what to expect in their area as far as the base rate, per mile, and per minute earnings. Any tip received within the app or in-person is 100% the driver’s to keep.
According to our driver survey, Lyft drivers reported earning around $17 per hour before expenses.
Lyft User Statistics
How many active Lyft users (riders) are there?
As of Q3, Fiscal 2020, Lyft had 12,513 active riders (in thousands), down from the same quarter in FY 2019 which showed 22,314 active riders (in thousands). This drop in ridership was likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In what countries is Lyft available?
Lyft is currently only running in the United States and Canada. Find a full list of active cities here.
Lyft User Demographics
According to a Lyft Impact website, “35% of Lyft riders do not own or lease a personal vehicle.”
They also reported that 48% of riders have used Lyft to get to or from public transit while 67% have used Lyft to get to the airport.
Source: https://www.lyftimpact.com/stats/national
Lyft has also reported that 37% of riders identify with a minority group, compared to 39% of the US population in 2018.
The median household income of Lyft riders is $68.9K in the United States and $71.8K in Canada.
“Lyft serves over half a million riders who reported living with a disability. Of those riders, 19% have identified as having vision loss, 11% have identified as having hearing loss, and 25% identified as having cognitive impairment,” according to the reported Lyft statistics.
Lyft vs Uber Statistics
According to our driver survey, 50.8% of drivers surveyed drive primarily for Uber. As far as Lyft is concerned, 19.9% of drivers are on their platform. 22.9% of drivers surveyed drive for Uber and Lyft equally.
Overall, the U.S. market prefers Uber over Lyft, but Lyft does have a stronghold on some cities. For example, in August 2020, 47% of Detroit’s rideshare sales went to Lyft, with Phoenix looking at similarly high numbers for Lyft.
Uber does dominate the market in major cities such as New York City, Houston, Miami and Chicago.
Source: https://secondmeasure.com/datapoints/rideshare-industry-overview/
According to Second Measure’s data, only 10% of passengers use both Uber and Lyft. Most are loyal to one rideshare app. On their website, Lyft statistics state, “Over the past year, the average rider of both Uber and Lyft spent $368 with Uber, and $240 at Lyft.”
But that doesn’t mean Lyft can’t bridge that gap. eMarketer estimates: “By the end of 2023, Lyft’s share of transportation-sharing users will reach 59.0%, less than 13 percentage points behind Uber.”
Source: https://www.emarketer.com/content/lyft-will-take-user-share-from-uber-through-2023
Keep in mind, the above chart and estimates were made pre-COVID-19, so they might be slightly off for both companies.
Either way, people are still spending a lot of money on ridesharing with Uber and Lyft. Empower, a money app, looked at Uber and Lyft transactions of 50,000 of their customers to find out just how much people are spending on Uber and Lyft rides per month on average.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/11/how-much-americans-spend-on-uber-and-lyft.html
People on average are spending anywhere from $26 a month to $110 on Uber rides. At the same time, passengers are spending on average anywhere from $20 to $89 on Lyft rides.
As far as drivers are concerned, the percentage of satisfied drivers who use Lyft is 52.4% while Uber is at 47.8%, but the market share favors Uber. However, drivers who use both are less satisfied overall at 44.5%, than the drivers who use one or the other platform alone.
Lyft vs Uber in NYC
Uber has well over the majority share of the market in New York City, but Lyft is expanding and may present a challenge in future years.
Source: https://toddwschneider.com/dashboards/nyc-taxi-ridehailing-uber-lyft-data/
It’s understandable then that the number of trips given per day is significantly higher on Uber than on Lyft. However, both ridesharing apps saw a large dip in trips due to the COVID-19 pandemic, although both are also making strides toward regaining their previous statuses.
It’ll be interesting to see how Uber and Lyft navigate the market post-COVID. Uber still has a bit of a leg up at the moment, but Lyft could swoop in and close the gap faster than expected.
Lyft vs Uber’s Subscription Services
Uber and Lyft both offer subscription services to drive down the overall cost of a ride, plus they offer incentives for drivers in the form of rewards.
For riders, Uber and Lyft both have their own subscription options that are recommended for those who use the apps regularly.
Lyft’s version is called Lyft Pink. It is $19.99 a month, and with that the rider receives 15% off rides, relaxed cancellations—they cover 3 cancellation fees per month if you rebook within 15 minutes—3 free or discounted bike/scooter rides and surprise offers.
Uber’s is called Uber Pass and it costs $24.99 a month. Riders who sign up get their first week free. In addition, the Uber Pass promises savings on every ride—10% off UberX, UberXL and Comfort rides; 15% off every Black, Premier and SUV ride in the U.S. except California and Puerto Rico. It also includes free delivery on Uber Eats and 5% off Uber Eats orders—$15 minimum order.
On the driver’s side, both companies offer rewards programs to earn points to be redeemed in various ways. They both offer tiers within their rewards program, offering higher-level rewards to drivers who have earned more points and have reached the next higher tier.
Lyft’s Silver level rewards include redeeming points for ride credit and/or car service credit, 2% cash back on gas with Lyft Direct, free Federal filing with TurboTax and discounted Allstate roadside assistance. Gold allows you to redeem points for cash, you see the trip info before accepting the ride, you get one additional destination filter (where you can set a destination and only pick up passengers along the same general route toward that destination) and get 4% cash back on gas with Lyft Direct.
Finally, with Platinum rewards, you get two additional destination filters, 5% cash back on gas with Lyft Direct, free Federal and state filing with TurboTax and free Allstate roadside assistance.
Lyft also allows riders to link their Lyft account with their Delta SkyMiles to earn miles every time they take a Lyft, with earning extra miles on airport rides. They also partner with Hilton Honors to let riders earn points on Lyft rides as well.
Uber has an Uber Pro program and the levels are Blue, Gold, Platinum and Diamond while Lyft has Silver, Gold and Platinum.
Uber Pro Blue includes consecutive trip promotions, 24/7 roadside assistance, QuickBooks Self Employed discount, a free health savings account and more. When you unlock Gold, you also get 100% tuition coverage at ASU Online, you can see the trip duration up front, have dedicated customer support and more.
With Platinum you get access to the Platinum discount hub, and with Diamond you get faster pickups at select airports, diamond VIP support and access to the diamond discount hub.
Lyft vs Uber vs Public Transit Costs
It’s fairly clear that the cost of taking an Uber or Lyft is significantly more expensive than taking public transit, even before leaving a tip for the driver.
When they first started out, Uber and Lyft statistics claimed they would work well in conjunction with public transit. They would be the first and/or last steps, either taking passengers to their bus stops or to their final destination if the transit system didn’t take them that far.
However, people seemed to prefer taking an Uber or Lyft over taking public transit. Sometimes the reasoning is because of convenience. In some metro areas, it takes several bus transfers to get from one location to the next and may include significant walking portions.
Some would consider the added cost of an Uber or Lyft ride to counter the inconvenience of taking multiple buses at a cheaper rate.
According to a Bloomberg article from June 2018, “The average CTA fare is $2.69, while Lyft and UberX rides averaged $18.13 and $17.90 respectively. Notably, riders who chose a carpool option for an on-demand ride spent a lot less when they rode UberPool than Lyft Line—those trips cost an average $9.33 and $14.04, respectively.”
The costs likely haven’t varied greatly in the last two years.
When looking at car ownership statistics, the rate of car ownership in the U.S. continues to trend upwards throughout most of the last decade. According to information provided by Value Penguin, “During this past year, 93.3% of households reported having access to at least one vehicle.”
However, car sales have been decreasing since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. According to a CNN Business article, “[Toyota’s] daily sales pace plunged 32% in March, while its overall sales in the month fell 37%, hurt in addition by one fewer sales day in the month. Overall, its first-quarter sales fell 9%, similar to the declines reported at Ford and GM. So it’s possible that Ford and GM suffered a similar decline in March to what Toyota reported.”
Another mode of transportation option that people are embracing is the scooter or e-bike. These options provide on-demand service at a low cost. If someone is looking to go less than a mile but doesn’t feel up to walking it, an e-bike or scooter is a great option.
Global Rideshare Market and Projections
While Lyft is currently not part of the global stage, the company may look to expand to markets outside of the United States and Canada.
Aside from competing with Uber in these global markets, Lyft will also have to consider the following companies if looking to compete on a broader scale.
Worldwide Rideshare Companies
Didi
When you look at the worldwide rideshare scene, one company that stands out is Didi. Didi has over 550 million users who use the app for their transportation needs.
It’s available throughout Latin America, Russia, and Asia Pacific. There are over 10 million delivery partners and drivers on the platform.
Didi provides over 10 billion rides per year. Didi was founded in China in 2012.
Grab
Back in 2012 Grab was founded in Malaysia. Grab has grown into one of South East Asia’s largest mobile tech companies.
Grab strives to take the stress off the people of Southeast Asia who often have to deal with traffic congestion when driving. It offers a few ways to travel: JustGrab, GrabShare, and GrabHitch. GrabHitch is a way to carpool and save up to 40% on typical rides through the service.
Summary
Since its creation in 2012, Lyft has created competition for the leading platform Uber. While Lyft statistics show that Lyft may have a smaller share of the market, they give riders another option when choosing which platform to support.
With continued financial support from lenders and investors, Lyft can close the gap between Uber and itself in the coming years. A lot of the future for both companies will depend on how they shift and grow once the full effects of the pandemic shake out.
However, based on driver surveys, Lyft should continue implementing ways to keep drivers safe while on the job and make sure drivers are paid a fair wage.
