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Look Out Uber, Lyft Rides Are Up 500% in This Incredibly Important City

Published: Mar 08, 2016 2 min read
A pink mustache on the dashboard as Bouchaib El Hassani, 31, a Lyft driver, makes his way through midtown Manhattan, October 16, 2014.
A pink mustache on the dashboard as Bouchaib El Hassani, 31, a Lyft driver, makes his way through midtown Manhattan, October 16, 2014.
Bryan Smith/Zuma Press Inc.—Alamy

Uber may have the advantage of being the biggest kid on the block in the ridesharing industry, but in at least one coveted market—New York City—Uber’s competitor Lyft says it has seen extraordinary growth.

According to data provided by Lyft to the news outlet Re/code, since May last year Lyft has seen its pool of drivers grow by a factor of four, while there are now six times as many weekly riders, and total ridership is up 500% overall.

Lyft and Uber have been in an arms race of sorts, competing for market share by cutting fares (in 33 cities for Lyft, including New York, and more than 80 cities for Uber) and launching various strategies to attract drivers.

It’s reported growth rate notwithstanding, Lyft is still David to Uber’s Goliath. The mustachioed rideshare service does about seven million rides a month nationally, according to Re/code, while Uber currently does one million rides a day.