Throughout the year, we spend time listening to our customers and working on solutions to make their lives better. We package these improvements into releases that bring together our most meaningful product updates — and for drivers, our Early 2024 Release is the biggest one yet.

“We take driving as seriously as drivers do. That’s why we spend so much time listening to drivers and getting behind the wheel ourselves. We’ve heard lots of feedback around consistent themes — earnings, deactivations, and safety — and we’re taking action to address them,” said David Risher, Lyft CEO. “Drivers are heroes. Every day they take workers to their jobs, patients to their doctors, commuters to their homes. Our job is to make sure they get a fair shake on every ride.”

Today’s release features marquee improvements to earnings, deactivations, and safety, led by a new, groundbreaking pay standard for drivers — one that we hope raises the bar for the industry.

We’re proud to introduce a new pay standard — the first of its kind in the rideshare industry. Last year, on average, Lyft drivers earned roughly 88% of rider payments, after external fees like local taxes and the government-mandated extra insurance provided while driving on the platform. But an average isn’t the full story for every driver: in any given week last year, approximately 15 out of 100 drivers earned less than 70% of what riders paid, after external fees. Almost two-thirds of drivers had it happen to them at least once. 

Our commitment is that drivers will earn 70% or more of rider payments each week, after external fees. Guaranteed. It’s a rock-solid floor: as a driver, if you’re ever under 70% at the end of the week, you’ll be paid the difference.

We know that many drivers feel like they can’t trace the path between what a rider pays, what Lyft takes, and what they earn. In other words, how is the fare split? Beginning today, drivers on Lyft can see how each rider’s payments are split between drivers, Lyft, and external fees. And a new earnings summary in the Lyft app, redesigned with a focus on transparency, will show drivers a breakdown of where every cent of the rider fare goes.

External fees include things like government taxes, airport and venue fees, and commercial auto insurance (i.e., insurance mandated under most state regulations that provides coverage beyond regular auto insurance). These fees vary significantly depending on state and city. Last year, 24% of rider fares went toward these costs on average, with the majority going to commercial auto insurance. And while we’re working extremely hard to reduce external fees so drivers can earn more — helping drivers better understand them is an important first step.

In addition to making it clearer where a rider’s fare goes, Lyft is introducing a number of other features to make earning with Lyft easier. Drivers can now:

“We are obsessed with improving the driver experience, both listening to drivers and getting behind the wheel ourselves. All these features are aimed at making it easier for drivers to choose how, when, and where to earn more – drivers having control is core to the Lyft experience,” said Audrey Liu, Executive Vice President, Customers.

While driver earnings are at the center of our Early 2024 Release, we know that drivers need to feel safe on the Lyft platform. Safety is fundamental to the driver and rider experience. We focus on the safety of everyone using the platform; occasionally, that requires us to place a temporary hold on a driver’s account while we investigate an allegation, and we know these deactivations can be frustrating.

When deactivations happen, our goal is for drivers to feel supported and respected throughout a process that is timely, transparent, and fair. To do so, we’ve launched a streamlined, in-app button for drivers to appeal deactivation decisions. This new channel gives drivers the ability to provide Lyft with any new or updated information as well as direct access to a specialized support team dedicated to deactivation appeals. The feature is already live in Washington State, Portland, Minnesota, and New York State and will launch nationally in March.

Our appeal feature is the latest improvement in working toward our goals in the deactivation process. Here is some of the progress we’ve already made over the past few months, and there’s even more to come:

Today’s improvements to earnings, deactivations, and safety are top-requested driver features that build on other features we’ve added in past months, including Upfront Pay improvements and Women+ Connect, which allows women and nonbinary drivers in select cities to increase their chances of matching with more women and nonbinary riders.

In all, our goal is to make Lyft the best rideshare platform for drivers, helping them earn the most they can. We hope Lyft’s new pay standard helps lead the way forward for drivers.

Visit us online or listen to our podcast to learn more about the new pay standard and how we’re working hard to improve the driving experience.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this announcement are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the securities laws, including statements about product updates, driver earnings, deactivations and safety on the Lyft platform. Such statements, which are not of historical fact, involve estimates, assumptions, judgments and uncertainties. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those addressed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors are detailed in Lyft’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not undertake an obligation to update our forward-looking statements to reflect future events, except as required by applicable law.