As of October, Uber and Lyft together owned almost 98 percent of the U.S. consumer ridesharing market. Uber held 69.2 percent (3 percentage points lower than the previous year), while Lyft held 28.4 percent (3 percentage points higher than last year).
“Lyft is strongest on the West Coast, where it’s closing in on Uber in several cities. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Lyft currently brings in 43 percent of monthly rideshare spending,” Second Measure’s Kathryn Gessner wrote in a blog post. “But, Uber still wins out on rider engagement. In 2018, riders have called an Uber an average of 5.8 times per a month, compared against an average of 5.0 rides [per month] for Lyft.”
News of the analysis comes as Lyft has moved into the lead position to announce its 2019 initial public offering (IPO), after it filed a draft registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The back half of 2018 has been especially busy for Lyft. The company launched the promotion “Ditch Your Car” in October, which offered passengers transportation credits if they gave up their cars for 30 days.
That same month, it announced its $72 million acquisition of augmented reality (AR) firm Blue Vision Labs, which will reportedly be a part of Lyft’s Level Five self-driving car unit. Blue Vision’s technology includes street-level mapping and interactive augmented reality that enables two people to see the same virtual objects.
Advertisement: Scroll to Continue
In July, Lyft bought CityBike owner Motivate for $250 million.
Lyft also recently rolled out its first subscription program for riders, the All-Access Plan. The service allows passengers to pay up front every 30 days to lock in a set price for their rides. It offers consumers 30 rides (up to $15 each) when they pay one monthly price of $299.
