Lyft Brings Same Day Payout, Cheaper Fuel and Discount Car Rentals for Drivers
Lyft, the other ride sharing company making headlines besides Uber, announced that it has partnered with energy company Shell, car rental company Hertz, and payment processing company Stripe to make life easier for its drivers.
“We are growing our ecosystem of partnerships and programs that provide Lyft drivers with more tools to achieve their personal goals and dreams,” said Lyft on its official blog.
The announcement on October 8 would effectively translate into cheaper car rentals from Hertz, discounted gasoline from Shell, and a more simplified and express payment option via Stripe for its drivers.
Since not everyone has a car, the partnership with Hertz would enable willing drivers to get periodic discount on car rental when they drive for Lyft.
In addition, Lyft would start offering the Express Pay option in November 2015. It would “empower drivers to get paid the same day they drive,” the announcement claimed. With the collaboration with Stripe, Lyft would offer its drivers same day payout if they earn at least $50 during the day.
“Once you’ve earned at least $50, you can simply tap the “get paid” button found on the app’s Driver Stats page. Your funds will be deposited instantly,” they said.
So far, Lyft’s competitors like Uber makes a weekly payout to its drivers. Lyft is hoping that the “instant payout” option developed by Stripe would attract more drivers to use their service.
Moreover, according to David Rust, Lyft’s head of operations strategy, fuel costs are the largest portion of the pie when it comes to ongoing cost. The fuel reward program in partnership with Shell would help Lyft drivers to significantly cut their operating costs as well, which would provide additional incentive for drivers to pick Lyft over Uber.
Lyft and Shell would initially launch the fuel reward program in San Francisco, Chicago and Boston and by the end of first quarter of 2016, they expect to expand it to around 12,000 Shell stations in the United States.
Talking to the existing and potential Lyft drivers, the co-founder of Lyft, John Zimmer said that “we’re incredibly motivated to make more and more improvements for you.”
People who have been following the rivalry between Lyft and Uber said that these three partnerships would definitely give Lyft an upper hand against Uber in the short run, but they expect Uber to soon respond by bringing their own offers to lure drivers.