2020 has been a year unlike any other. But through it all, we saw extraordinary generosity and humanity from this community. Day after day, drivers, medical professionals, and other essential workers — the real champions of the year — played vital roles keeping our communities going. People rallied together from a distance, took on healthier habits to keep others safe, and pitched in to bring thousands of critical rides to people in need.
“I have been helping people my whole life, which I enjoy doing, and at this time in the world and everything that's going on, it was extremely needed.” - Mary Cerone, driver, Chicago
Here’s a closer look at what moved us:
Helping riders get to and from essentials.
In late March, soon after the pandemic began, the share of rides to and from locations with essential resources, services, and workplaces — like groceries and healthcare — increased.
This year, we helped more than 10,000 healthcare workers get to and from work, totaling nearly 200,000 rides. Lyft’s healthcare team works with thousands of hospitals across the U.S., hundreds of which partner with us on commuting solutions for their healthcare workers.
Offering bikeshare as a physically distant, active, and environmentally friendly way to get around.
Nearly 30,000 critical workers accessed free annual bikeshare memberships this year, and took nearly 900,000 bike and scooter rides, through our Critical Workforce Program.
A record-breaking summer:
June: Nice Ride, in Minneapolis, celebrated its 10-year anniversary with over 2.7 million trips.
July: Citi Bike, in New York City, hit 100 million all-time rides — it’s the only bikeshare system in the U.S. to celebrate this milestone.
August: Chicago’s Divvy bikeshare system broke its monthly ridership record with over 612,000 rides.
September: Washington, DC’s Capital Bikeshare celebrated its 10-year anniversary with over 27 million trips and over 150 million miles.
We now have the largest ebike fleets in North America — in Chicago and New York — and all-electric fleets in Portland and Santa Monica.
Partnering with important organizations who made massive impacts on their local communities.
Through our LyftUp program, we’ve given over $1.5 million worth of free rides to help under-resourced communities access food, essential jobs, and services. This includes providing access to ride credits to over 700 organizations like local governments, medical offices, and nonprofits.
Nearly 25% of our partners support communities of color with access to transportation options.
More than 20% of our partners have provided access to ride credits to support communities with food insecurity.
Nearly 20% of our partners have provided families, seniors, veterans, and women in need.
Adapting to a new reality and helping to keep riders and drivers safe.
Through this program, we dedicated nearly $4 million to free cleaning supplies and protective equipment for drivers, including hundreds of thousands of masks and sanitizers.
Drivers gave millions of rides with in-car partitions.
We developed a recommended rideshare-specific cleaning process in partnership with P&G Professional and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, a leader in combating viral pathogens. Local teams have performed thousands of cleaning services at our Driver Centers.
Coming together to move communities forward.
“Helping folks and bringing them food and necessary needs is a privilege. At times it will feel like we are the chosen angels sent on a mission to make things better and bring happiness!'' - Cora Manapat, driver, San Francisco
Voting Access:
This year, drivers helped hundreds of thousands of people ride to the polls on Election Day as well as to early voting sites in the U.S. We doubled the number of rides to the polls on Election Day and early voting sites compared to 2018.
Through multiple partners, including nearly 20 non-profits, 15% of all Voting Access rides were to early voting sites.
Through the Voting Access Hub and partnerships with When We All Vote and Vote.org, we helped nearly 30,000 people make a transportation plan for voting, verify their registration, or register to vote.
In Vancouver, B.C., drivers helped thousands of people get to the polls for the provincial election.
Jobs Access:
To date, the Jobs Access Program — with United Way, Goodwill and several other local non-profits — has supported job seekers with over 30,000 rides.
Over 30% of respondents said that a Lyft ride helped them secure a job.
Over 80% of respondents said that they would not have a way to get to work without a Lyft ride.
Racial justice and solidarity rides:
This year, we announced we will provide access to 1.5 million rides over five years to help under-resourced communities of color reach a powerful network of essential resources and services through the LyftUp Access Alliance Founding Members.
Riders made their voices heard in the fight against racial injustice by attending protests. A portion of proceeds from rides to and from protest venues was donated to national civil rights organizations, totaling $15,000 over 10 days, with the majority being donated in:
Los Angeles
Chicago
San Francisco
Thousands of cyclists also came out to support racial justice with 29 organized solidarity ride events in Chicago and 18 in New York City this summer.
Leading the transition to zero emissions:
Now more than ever we need to address the climate crisis and work together to create cleaner, healthier, and more equitable communities, so this year, Lyft committed to 100% electric vehicles on the platform by 2030.
Meal deliveries:
Drivers delivered over 2 million meals to those in need through our non-profit partners, with the most deliveries made in:
El Paso, TX
Bay Area, CA
Sacramento, CA
Feeling grateful for all of the riders who helped support their communities along the way.
Hundreds of thousands of people visited the Access Alliance and Jobs Access pages and since September, riders have contributed thousands of dollars through Donate-A-Ride. Anyone interested in helping can donate rides here.
Lyft riders have donated more than $22 million through Round Up & Donate since 2017, supporting communities across North America, with the most generous cities this year being:
New York City
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Chicago
Riders showed their appreciation for drivers by tipping. The cities that tipped the most often this year were:
Portland, OR
Honolulu, HI
Salt Lake City, UT
Vancouver, BC
Thank you to drivers and riders for being on this journey with us. You are what makes this community so special, and we’re proud to help connect you to what matters most.