Certify Runs the Numbers on Lyft, Uber

Ridesharing is one of the biggest uses around for mobile payments, and with good reason; you’re calling for a ride usually well away from any kind of static point-of-sale (POS) system. Two of the biggest names around when it comes to ridesharing are Lyft and Uber, and Certify recently sent us the latest from its second quarter SpendSmart report, which took a look at both names, and presented noteworthy points about these two titans, as well as ridesharing and transportation in general.

There’s no doubt that Uber is ahead of the pack. It’s got about 74 percent of the market share according to the Certify report, which makes Lyft’s 19 percent of the market a weak comparison at best. Worse yet, taxis only have seven percent of the market, showing how far behind either competitor they are.

However, there’s a growing move away from Uber, and largely, that traffic seems to be moving to Lyft. Lyft gained eight percent in the second quarter of 2018 as compared to the second quarter of 2017, and Uber dropped three percent. Taxis,meanwhile, dropped five.

Uber remains big with business travelers, though, as it took almost 26 percent of the ground transportation market. Lyft had only taken one percent in that time frame. Uber was on the rise with business travelers as well, going from 55 percent of the market in second quarter 2015 to take 77 percent. In second quarter 2018, though, it saw its first drop in the business traveler field.

Basically, Uber has the lead, and by a wide margin. A daunting margin for its competitors. While Uber is slipping in the field-as are taxis-in favor of Lyft, the losses are essentially marginal. We’d seen Uber losing some real ground in the last few months thanks to the loss of London, but it doesn’t seem like London’s rescinding Uber’s licensing has done it a lot of harm overall. It’s proof of the value of diversification, and working in multiple markets at once.

What will happen next year for Uber and Lyft? Will Uber lose a little more ground to Lyft? Will Uber turn it around? Only time will tell, and hopefully, Certify will fill us in on the outcome.