Lyft Had The Most Riders This Week Since The Pandemic Started

Ride-sharing company Lyft, today announced that it saw the most riders this week than it has since the start of the pandemic. 

The coronavirus pandemic and ensuing lockdown starting March 2020 affected the regular operations of a lot of businesses and ride-hailing apps were not exempted. Due to the pandemic, movements have been discouraged and this led to a pretty low turnout of riders. For companies like Lyft, riders are their main source of revenue. 

Lyft is the second-largest ride-sharing company in the United States, after Uber, and in its 9 years of operations, have managed to own 30% of the ride-sharing market. 

In 2020, the company reported a revenue of $2.4 billion, 35% less than the $3.6 billion it recorded in 2019.

In the third quarter of 2020, it reported a $499.7 million revenue, a 47% increase from the second quarter of $339.3 million. The release of vaccines and the hint of the world resuming normal activities is expected to boost the company's revenue.

The company has started to feel some of the signs of normalcy this week as restrictions are being lifted and people feel more comfortable returning to their activities and traveling. On Wednesday, it posted positive growth on the daily volume of ride-hailers and announced that it was their best week since the pandemic began in March.

Starting next week, Lyft expects the number of riders to increase by 100% and is convinced it will keep up through the end of the year. The company's investors are convinced of this as shares rose more than 250% on Wednesday.

One of the biggest threats to Lyft's revenue will be the regulation of the gig-economy. Drivers for ride-hailing apps are considered contractors and are not accorded employee benefits.

Lyft and Uber have come under fire by their drivers, for refusal to acknowledge drivers as employees. This saves costs for the companies as they do not have to provide benefits to the drivers like paid leaves, guaranteed minimum wages, insurance and pension. The Joe-Biden administration has announced plans to reclassify gig-workers as employees, providing them with full benefits.