National Driver Advisory Council Summit 2019

At the end of June, your National Driver Advisory Council took a trip to the Lyft offices in San Francisco to meet with the team and get a behind the scenes look at what’s being worked on and what they can look forward to.

The group came ready with questions, ideas for improvements and innovation, and of course, feedback from you, our local drivers. They met with a variety of people, from COO Jon McNeill and VP of Global Operations Karim Bousta, to engineers who work on your app, communications experts, and customer service specialists.

You can expect to see new commitments and actions from Lyft as a result of all these meetings by the end of July.

NDAC member, Tom Anez, says, “As the 2019 National DAC Summit comes to a close, I know my colleagues and I appreciate the time and effort from each valuable conversation we had. We also extend that thanks to each team member behind the scenes.

These conversations and presentations made us feel welcomed — but most importantly — valued. Our opinions mattered. Our voices were heard. Our commitment continues. Moving forward, we all have set expectations of action plans, and we challenge the Lyft team to work with us as a National DAC group to ensure we continue the momentum.

Thanks to our DAC Lyft employee team members for setting this event up. Know we greatly appreciate all of the behind-the-scenes planning and support you provided. And to my colleagues on DAC 3.0: keep up the great advocacy on behalf of our drivers.”

Here’s some insight into what we discussed:

Driver Education: We know getting on the road can be overwhelming at first, and want to be sure you’re getting the tools you need. The National Driver Advisory Council told us how we can do this better, what we have missed, and what they see happening in their cars (and yours!) that matters.
The Product: This is the center of the business, so we want to get it right. Your NDAC gave us feedback on the best ways to communicate product updates, where drivers get the most valuable information, and how we can make the app more efficient for you. This included a behind-the-scenes look at Lyft Beta features and a conversation around how things are tested and rolled out.
Customer Service: We had a roundtable discussion about the service experience and how it can be improved for drivers. We talked about everything from upcoming improvements to cancellations for safety reasons, how to reward driver integrity, and regulatory/legal requirements around safety.
Driver Centers and Mobile Service: We rolled out our first Driver Center in San Francisco this year, and we discussed our plans to roll them out to more markets later this year, so we want your National Driver Advisory Council to be supported in bringing this information back locally. We talked about what types of services they offer (and for how much), how long service takes, and which markets will get them next. We had a great discussion about ways to let drivers know they exist.
Local DAC: Following the launch of the Local Driver Advisory Councils, the team chatted through the relationship between the two councils, how they can best support each other, and the process for voicing and prioritize your concerns.
And More… Your National Driver Advisory Council members have a lot of important and valuable insight. Don’t be afraid to reach out to them or join one of their upcoming meetups to learn what else they heard from HQ.

So what’s next?

We heard a lot of important feedback and ideas that we’re excited to bring into our daily work. Each conversation the council had at HQ will be detailed out and thought through to find the best ways to prioritize and act on the needs of our drivers. These conversations are just the beginning — stay tuned for more updates from the Driver Advisory Council!