AUSTIN — On - demand passage app Uber is ubiquitous , but it typically hogs the drive - share spotlight forall the wrong reasons . Lyft is perfectly content to let its rival hook up the negative care , because despite the constant comparison between the two apps , their approach to business nothing alike .
Lyft has a report for friendliness . While its cars are no longer decked out infuzzy pinkish mustaches(which some of us actually like ) , the splasher glowstache replacement is a welcoming sign . rider hop-skip in the front butt and get to make love their driver , though the introductory clenched fist hump is no longer mandatory . Lyft has n’t jumped into international markets like Uber because it want to establish drive - communion as a de facto public deportation system in the States first .
“ We have all different visions for the world and we operate on very otherwise , ” Lyft cofounder and CEO Logan Green said during a keynote talk at the South by Southwest Interactive festival this workweek . “ Uber is a good car armed service , and that ’s exactly what they were when we launched . ”
But Lyft does n’t want to be an on - demand car armed service . The troupe is pinning its future to Lyft Line , the carpooling armed service that now makes up more than half of Lyft rides in San Francisco .
Lyft ’s pinkish mustache is more than a logo , it ’s a signaling of friendliness .
The mustache makes a difference
Lyft had a huge presence in Austin during SXSW as the fete ’s prescribed ride - partake in partner . Lyft also used SXSW to gin up more drug user by place nerveless car — like aclassic Bentley and a Tesla — to pick up golden passengers .
The Lyft experience in Austin is also much different than in New York , where I live . Both Uber and Lyft offer a dissimilar translation of their ride - share service in NYC than in other areas due tocity regulatons — drivers must be licence by Taxi and Limousine Commission and go through additional check that drivers in other nation do n’t have to , and so the passenger experience is more similar to a black - car service — and to Uber — than to Lyft rides in other metropolis .
But in Austin , the deviation between Uber and Lyft are crude . Sitting up front in a Lyft and chatting about your life story with a alien is n’t for everyone , but that experience is what Lyft is hinge upon on . The caller geminate mentor drivers with new ones to show them the Lyft way .
“ Lyft is more about connecting citizenry in residential area , not creating an on - requirement obstetrical delivery servicing , ” Lyft Chief Marketing Officer Kira Wampler tell during a press roundtable at South by Southwest .
Wampler say a gamy pct of Lyft employee are driver , too , including CEO Logan Green .
“ If we want every railway car on the road to be a Lyft , we want to make it fabulously commodious for driver , ” Green said during his keynote . “ The other solar day I picked somebody up and made $ 20 on my way into work . Every dollar counts . ”
Carpooling into the future
Lyft got its commencement as a WWW 1.0 carpooling service called Zimride , which was essentially a digital bulletin panel for college students to portion out ride . The company went back to its roots when six month ago itlaunched Lyft Line , a feature that lets you apportion Lyfts with the great unwashed heading the same way .
Uber announced asimilar featurethe same day , but the troupe is known more for its grim - machine service . Logan pointed to Uber ’s early motto , “ Everyone ’s Private Driver , ” as a symbol of the deviation between the two services .
“ Most of the universe can not afford a secret driver , ” he said . “ We ’re unrelentingly introduce to bring the price point down . ”
Lyft price Line rides to be competitive with public transport options .
Lyft has hesitated to blow up internationally while Uber is jumping headlong into the global transportation grocery in part because it does n’t require to change its premiss to compete with local service .
“ We ’re look to add something unparalleled to the market , ” Green tell . “ When we do go outside , it wo n’t be as a taxi service . It ’ll be bringing the pieces that are most unique to Lyft to the rest of the world . ”
Green said Lyft is “ see a lot right now ” watching Uber battle to swan itself in other country , and said he does n’t think Uber ’s current strategy is ferment . It ’s indecipherable if Lyft has a strategy in place to expand internationally or when it plans to begin that cognitive process , but for now the company is focused onmaking Lyft Line as democratic in other U.S. citiesas it is in San Francisco . With a fresh$530 million in funding , the company is well on its way .
This story incorrectly stated that only Lyft was allowed to pick up passengers at the Austin - Bergstrom International Airport . Both Uber and Lyft are able to beak up users at the airport for a temporary full point pending a long - term agreement .
