Taxi service Lyft has introduced a new pay standard for its driver employees to ensure they are guaranteed at least 70% of the payments they receive from customers.
The commitment will mean drivers earn this minimum percentage each week after external fees. If they are under this amount at the end of the week, they will be paid the difference.
The organisation implemented the change because Lyft drivers last year earned, on average, 88% of customer payments after local taxes and the government-mandated extra insurance provided. In any given week in 2023, approximately 15 out of 100 drivers earned less than 70% of customers' payments, with almost two-thirds experiencing it at least once.
Lyft has also introduced several other driver benefits, including the chance to earn more for waiting during scheduled rides, appeal deactivations in the Lyft app, more ways to choose rides at airports and new earning and navigation opportunities for electric vehicles.
David Risher, chief executive officer of Lyft, said: “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. 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.
“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.”
Lyft also offers its employees medical, dental and vision insurance, One Medical membership fees, free access to licensed therapists for all employees and their dependents, unlimited paid annual leave for salaried workers, and 18 weeks of paid parental leave for biological, adoptive and foster parents.
