Lyft suspends its Bay Area carpooling service
Lyft has learned a valuable lesson from one of its most recent ventures: the carpooling biz is tough to get into. The company is “pausing” the carpooling service it launched for the Bay Area just a few months ago, and according to Forbes, it’s all because it wasn’t able to entice enough drivers to sign up for it. Lyft presented the program as a way to earn between $4 and $10 per ride just by picking up people going the same way. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out, and the company reportedly told the team behind the offering that they’ll be transferred to other divisions.
Based on the statement its spokesperson gave Forbes, though, Lyft hasn’t fully given up on the feature, and it plans to continue operating its other carpooling product called Line.
“While we think a scheduled carpool feature is the right long-term strategy, it is too soon to scale to a meaningful level where supply matches demand. We learned a lot and will apply it to new and existing projects — like Lyft Line — as we drive our vision forward to solve pain points in commuting.”
Lyft isn’t the only ride-sharing company that offers carpooling as an option. As Kristen Bill learned after an awkward car ride, Uber has one as well, and it still exists. TechCrunch also mentioned that a Bay Area-based carpool-only company called Scoop is still around and doing great.
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