Lyft News

How Lyft Works With Public Transit Agencies Across the Country to Eliminate Transportation Barriers

Amy Westhagen - Jun 7, 2018
A female Lyft driver laughing with a female Lyft passenger.

At Lyft, we envision a world in which cities are not built around parking lots and roads, but are reimagined to center around our communities. And we believe that partnering with public transit agencies is critical to this vision.

We’ve found that Lyft passengers are already using Lyft to get to and from the nearest public transit station. For example, some of the most top requested Lyft destinations in SanFrancisco are to and from public transit stations - BART, Caltrain, and MUNI.

Recognizing the role public transit plays as a backbone to mobility, we are thrilled to introduce mixed transportation trip planning capabilities in our app, providing people more options than ever to get around. Riders will be able to seamlessly request a Lyft as a last mile solution at the end of their transit journey, or during hours of congestion.

We can’t wait to bring this feature into our growing group of partnerships with transit agencies around the country, as we work together to explore how Lyft can help support local transportation needs. Together, we’re working with agency partners to develop new approaches to first-last mile programs, suburban mobility and introducing on-demand transportation to paratransit programs and passengers.

A few examples of some of the innovative partnerships we’ve worked on with municipal partners across the country include:

  • A New Approach to Suburban Mobility and Dial-a-Ride Service | City of Monrovia, California**: **We’ve partnered with the City of Monrovia to launch a new model for suburban mobility, enabling residents and visitors in this community to access a Lyft ride anywhere in the GoMonrovia service area for just $0.50, and to easily connect to the LA Metro Gold Line. This innovative public-private partnership provides the community with an enhanced and affordable transportation option.

  • Transforming Lives with On-Demand Paratransit | Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, Nevada: Lyft is working with the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC) to provide on-demand transportation to a subset of their paratransit community for the first time. Customers in the pilot program have noted the life transforming impact that RTC and Lyft are providing by enabling same-day, on-demand travel, when most passengers could previously only book rides days out from the date they needed them.

  • Providing free first-last mile access to core transit centers for bus riders |  Pierce County Transit, Washington: With support from the Federal Transit Administration’s Mobility on Demand (MOD) Sandbox grant program, Limited Access Connections, we’ve partnered with Pierce County Transit to bridge first-last mile gaps to bus and rail stations throughout Pierce County, introducing added mobility and new multimodal options.

  • Mitigating regional congestion with multimodal programs | Transportation Authority of Marin, California: We’re working with the Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM) to provide a discount for passengers using Lyft Line to get to and from the region's new SMART rail line. Working with TAM we are expanding residents and employees access to and from this important new commuter rail.

  • Providing greater connectivity to new rail systems | Charlotte Area Transit System, North Carolina: We’ve partnered with the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) to provide discounted first-last mile trips to Charlotte's new light rail extension. These are just some of the many ways we’re working with public transportation agencies to reshape the way communities move - making it easier for communities across the country to access transit solutions. If you're a city, county or transportation agency interested in learning more about how Lyft can partner with your transit organization to increase mobility in your community, please email Transit@lyft.com for more information.

Learn more about how we're helping people share the ride with our new app.