Update from our Co-Founders
First, we know no words will do justice to everyone's individual experience over the last couple weeks. All of us at Lyft feel the weight of our responsibility to the community, particularly right now. Today we wanted to share some of our initial efforts to help.
Connecting drivers with additional sources of income
While ride demand is temporarily down, we’re actively expanding our services to include delivery partnerships with healthcare, government, and businesses to create new opportunities for those of you who are interested and able to drive.
Those who would like to help neighbors get to grocery stores, workers to hospitals, and caretakers to their jobs can sign up for our LyftUp Driver Task Force (as always, this is entirely optional and drivers are paid for these rides).
We’re also teaming up with other companies to get you access to temporary work opportunities, and will include those relevant to you in a weekly Lyft email update sent out during this time.
Stimulus that benefits individuals before companies
Our Chief Policy Officer, Anthony Foxx, served as the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. He’s communicating to legislators that our priority is stimulus that specifically assists drivers, other workers, people who are self-employed, and small businesses.
We know most drivers use Lyft for supplemental income while working elsewhere. For those of you who fall into this category, you may be eligible for paid sick and family leave under recently passed federal legislation. Learn more.
Also in this legislation is a measure that will offer a refundable tax credit up to $511/day, for up to ten days, if someone is unable to work because of issues related to COVID-19. This credit would be available for drivers as self-employed individuals. See some of our tax resources here.
Additional changes to adapt to the realities of this situation
We are providing funds to drivers should they be diagnosed with COVID-19, or put under individual quarantine by a public health agency. Learn more.
We’ve waived the minimum ride requirements nationwide for drivers renting with Express Drive (Lyft's short-term, weekly rental program) and reduced rental rates in cities most impacted.
New driver applicants during this period will be added to a waitlist. This helps protect the earning opportunities of current Lyft drivers.
We’re reinforcing hygiene practices with passengers, and doing everything in our power (given global shortages) to supply hand sanitizer and cleaning wipes at no charge. We’re also developing creative ways to distribute these while Hubs are closed. We’ll provide local updates in your app.
As part of this work to support the driver community, we’re contributing our salaries to these efforts through the end of June. We’re grateful for you being part of the Lyft community and will continue to keep you updated.
Thank you,
John & Logan Lyft, Co-Founders