With ride-sharing services, drivers use their personal vehicles rather than a company-issued one, and payment is made through an app. Lyft is available in hundreds of cities in North America. To request a ride, you must be at least 18 years of age. To become a Lyft driver, you must be at least 21.
Getting Started With Lyft
To use Lyft, you need a smartphone with a cellular plan and the Lyft app. You’ll need to enable location services so that the app can match you up with drivers in your area. Lyft doesn’t work with Wi-Fi-only devices. There are Lyft apps for iPhone and Android. Lyft’s platform works with all the major cell carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon), as well as most prepaid operators including Cricket Wireless and Virgin Wireless. Download For:
How Does Lyft Work?
Getting a Lyft is easy. Open the Lyft app and choose your ride type. There will be up to five options, depending on where you live. Each tier has a different base rate, which varies by city. The other options are:
Lyft Plus: Seats up to six people.Lyft Line: Saves you money by sharing a ride with one or more persons going the same way.Lyft Premier: A high-end car.Lyft Lux: An ultra-high-end black car with a top-rated driver.Lyft Lux SUV: An ultra-high-end black SUV that seats up to six.Lyft Shuttle: A fixed-fare commuter service available only during rush hour.
Lyft Premier, Lux, and Lux SUV are not available in all cities. Go to the Lyft cities page and choose your city, for example, New Orleans, to see what’s available. Lyft Shuttle is available only in limited cities during the morning and afternoon rush hour. It’s like Lyft Line, except it doesn’t pick riders up at their address, but instead at a nearby designated pickup spot, and it drops them off at another designated stop. It’s like a bus service, but on demand.
How to Request a Lyft Ride
To order a Shuttle ride, select Lyft Line, where you’ll see two options: door-to-door and Shuttle. The app gives you walking directions to the pickup stop and the departure time. If you want to order any type of Lyft except for Shuttle, follow these instructions:
Lyft Rates
In many cases, you can see an estimate of your fare before requesting a Lyft, but factors such as traffic can affect the total. Lyft calculates its fares by distance and time (minutes traveled) and adds a base fare and service fee. Different ride types have different base fares. For example, Lyft Premier has a higher base fare than Lyft Line. You can view the base fares for your location on Lyft’s Cities page. During busy periods, Lyft adds a Prime Time fee, which is a percentage of the ride total. From the Cities page, you can also get a cost estimate, by entering your pickup and destination addresses. Lyft shows you a list of options (such as Lyft Line, Plus, and Premier) and prices in ascending order. Uber, which is available around the world, is Lyft’s significant competitor and offers similar services. The burning question for riders is: is Lyft or Uber cheaper? The answer is complicated and depends on many factors, including the location and time of day. Uber has an online tool where you can request an estimate; note that the fare types are not in order of price.
Lyft Special Services
In most cases, you need a smartphone to order a Lyft, but Lyft partnered with GreatCall to enable its subscribers to access the ride-sharing service from their Jitterbug phones. GreatCall is a prepaid phone service for seniors that sells mostly basic Jitterbug phones, most of which do not support mobile apps. Included in the service is a live operator who can assist subscribers in a variety of ways, including in emergencies. Through the GreatCall Rides program, subscribers ask their live operator to request a Lyft. GreatCall adds the fare (tip included) to their monthly GreatCall bill. GreatCall Rides is available only in a few states, including California and Florida, and a couple of cities, including Chicago. To find out if it’s available where you live, check your zip code on the GreatCall website or dial 0 and ask the operator. Lyft also partnered with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s (MBTA) paratransit service to provide on-demand rides for disabled passengers. Trips for members of the paratransit service cost as little as $2 and can be requested via the Lyft app or by phone.
