According to Lyft, around 80% of commuting drivers make their daily trek alone. So, the company is debuting a service called Driver Destination. Lonely commuters stand to gain $400 a month just picking up passengers along their designated route to work, the company advertised in a blog post.
Lyft was quiet last week as Uber took its beating in the press. But, perhaps as a result of Uber-backlash, Buzzfeed reports that the rideshare rival had its biggest week ever with passengers.
The new Lyft service, reports Fortune, grew out of Lyft Line, a feature where two passengers or groups of passengers with similar routes can share a car for a reduced fare and one that the district attorney says, along with Uber Pool, is not legal in California because the companies do not have the same "passenger stage" licenses as Super Shuttle.
But, with Driver Destination, you don't have to suffer the time consequences of the other carpool options when another passenger wants to take you too far out of your way.
"Connecting these rides will also help reduce traffic and expand sustainable transit options," Lyft writes in their blog announcement. They also quoted Deputy Director of Sustainable Communities at the Natural Resources Defense Council, Amanda Eaken: "Enabling people who were already driving somewhere to seamlessly pick up a passenger gets us one step closer to real-time, dynamic ride-sharing. This will not only help reduce the number of cars on our congested roads, it will also cut our oil demand and carbon pollution."
The other stated objective is coaxing more drivers into using Lyft, but reduced emissions is a great goal. Humanity: we're all in the same rideshare!
Lyft drivers seemed pleased on their Reddit page:
As one driver responded, "Between this and Lyft Line, I find it somewhat amusing that it hasn't been until now that 'ridesharing' has finally begun to actually resemble sharing a ride."
