Lyft: Market Share Increases as Rides Peak

After a year in which executives said Lyft's revenue reached a new high and its market share increased, the company during a Tuesday evening earnings call noted its continued de-emphasis of surge pricing and teased plans for an autonomous...

Lyft: Market Share Increases as Rides Peak

After a year in which executives said Lyft's revenue reached a new high and its market share increased, the company during a Tuesday evening earnings call noted its continued de-emphasis of surge pricing and teased plans for an autonomous vehicle expansion.

"We've reached all-time highs in rides, in riders, in driver hours, [and] even made our service levels industry-leading, Lyft CEO David Risher said. "As a result, our market share at the end of January this year was the highest it's been since 2022, and our financial results are the best ever."

Lyft in the fourth quarter further reduced its "prime time" or surge pricing "even faster than we'd planned," Risher said. The company last week also expanded its new Price Lock feature, which allows riders to "lock in" a price pass for a regular route and time for a $2.99 monthly fee, to be available 24/7. "Since launching last fall, we're seeing approximately 70 percent of Price Lock riders continue to purchase passes month after month," he said. "Many of them are high-frequency riders who are now loyal to Lyft thanks to this feature."

This week Risher on the social media platform X announced plans to offer autonomous vehicles in Dallas "as soon as 2026" with partner Mobileye. Japanese company Marubeni Corp. will own and finance the vehicles. He didn't elaborate further on the plans other than that there will be "other cities to follow."

Lyft Q4, FY2024 Metrics

Lyft reported $1.55 billion in fourth-quarter revenue, an increase of nearly 27 percent year over year, and nearly $5.79 billion in 2024 revenue, up 31 percent. Q4 net income was $61.7 million compared with a loss of $26.3 million a year prior. Full-year net income was $22.8 million versus a loss of $340.3 million in 2023.

Fourth-quarter gross bookings totaled nearly $4.28 billion, an increase of nearly 15 percent year over year. Full-year gross bookings were nearly $16.1 billion compared with nearly $13.76 billion in 2023. 

Q4 active riders reached 24.7 million, up from 22.4 million in Q4 2023. Lyft reported 218.5 million rides in the fourth quarter, up from 190.8 million a year prior. Full-year rides totaled 828.3 million, up from 709 million in 2023. 

First-quarter outlook includes ride growth in the mid-teens percentage year over year. Lyft projects gross bookings to increase 10 percent to 14 percent year over year. 

 Lyft Q3 performance