Excellent news. I dropped Uber because of how they run their business. My experience with Lyft in US cities has been excellent.
Uber could use some competition in Toronto as well (outside of our generally terrible taxis).
Lyft's first expansion outside the USA in Toronto next month
11–20 of 53 posts
Re: Lyft's first expansion outside the USA in Toronto next month
#12About time. While Uber is available in almost every major city around the world, Lyft has been US only. I wonder why Lyft is so far behind. Is it just a matter of investment capital?
Agreed, I can't understand why they haven't expanded to London (UK) yet. Uber completely dominates the market for ride sharing.
Uber recently had their license to operate in London, UK revoked, and it was also ruled that their drivers are employees not ICs. It’s a market that requires more preparedness before entering.
Re: Lyft's first expansion outside the USA in Toronto next month
#13About time. While Uber is available in almost every major city around the world, Lyft has been US only. I wonder why Lyft is so far behind. Is it just a matter of investment capital?
I believe it is because they are hesitant to blatantly disregard local laws - it's part of their brand persona, they try to be seen as the "nicer uber" - hence they try to play nice with the jurisdictions they expand to, resulting in slower expansion.
https://a16z.com/2017/09/25/government-relations-local-lyft/
Re: Lyft's first expansion outside the USA in Toronto next month
#14Can't wait. I've used Uber frequently for a long time, but every other story in the news about them is that their leadership are just terrible human beings. I don't want to deal with them as a company. Much like the drivers, I simply want what Uber is offering and have no loyalty to the company itself. If Lyft wants to come to Toronto and offer the same thing without being Uber, I'll gladly switch.
I would use Lyft or Uber in Toronto, whichever is convenient at that point of time. If you start to boycott companies which are not ethical in doing their business, well almost all companies are. Lets start with Amazon with their sweat shop warehouses, Garment manufacturing outsourced to workers in Bangladesh working in deadly conditions. No corporations are saints.
Re: Lyft's first expansion outside the USA in Toronto next month
#15Can't wait. I've used Uber frequently for a long time, but every other story in the news about them is that their leadership are just terrible human beings. I don't want to deal with them as a company. Much like the drivers, I simply want what Uber is offering and have no loyalty to the company itself. If Lyft wants to come to Toronto and offer the same thing without being Uber, I'll gladly switch.
I would use Lyft or Uber in Toronto, whichever is convenient at that point of time. If you start to boycott companies which are not ethical in doing their business, well almost all companies are. Lets start with Amazon with their sweat shop warehouses, Garment manufacturing outsourced to workers in Bangladesh working in deadly conditions. No corporations are saints.
It's important to choose companies that you like - and behavior is a key component of that. Sometimes you have no choice but to deal with unfavorable companies, but if there is an option you should consider all aspects when purchasing.
Re: Lyft's first expansion outside the USA in Toronto next month
#16With recent investments in both Lyft and Uber, it will be interesting to see how Lyft executes on it's international expansion. > John Zimmer, Lyft’s president and co-founder says 5,000 Torontonians downloaded the app this year with no service available. > Uber has become part of Toronto’s transportation scene, with almost 50,000 drivers — many part-time — and new services including food delivery. > Kristine Hubbard,…
Beck has been waging a pretty high-profile PR war against ride-sharing in this city.. But Beck Taxi are also the face of everything that's wrong with taxis in Toronto, so most people here don't take their position very seriously, and they do not have much goodwill from the population (or from taxi operators in a lot of cases). That said, in the last few months whenever I talk to my Uber driver about "how things are g…
Yeah, Beck's been fighting a losing battle. Once I called them to give it a shot and they made me wait for 15 minutes. To be fair, the taxi did arrive and I was not in any rush so overall, the delay didn't matter much. However, that's probably the last time I'll call them unless something changes drastically. I also just noticed they have released an app. Curious how's the experience is on it so far.
Re: Lyft's first expansion outside the USA in Toronto next month
#17Can't wait. I've used Uber frequently for a long time, but every other story in the news about them is that their leadership are just terrible human beings. I don't want to deal with them as a company. Much like the drivers, I simply want what Uber is offering and have no loyalty to the company itself. If Lyft wants to come to Toronto and offer the same thing without being Uber, I'll gladly switch.
I would use Lyft or Uber in Toronto, whichever is convenient at that point of time. If you start to boycott companies which are not ethical in doing their business, well almost all companies are. Lets start with Amazon with their sweat shop warehouses, Garment manufacturing outsourced to workers in Bangladesh working in deadly conditions. No corporations are saints.
To add to the sibling comment here, when you have a realistic choice, you can choose the better one. Lyft is a clear matching competitor, and if you can afford any small price differences, you have no excuses. Amazon doesn't really have a competitor. While some can afford fair trade clothing, most cannot. Just because no company is perfect and sometimes supporting pretty shitty practices is more or less unavoidable doesn't mean you have no choice in every scenario every time.
Re: Lyft's first expansion outside the USA in Toronto next month
#18> Khalid Ahmed, 31, says he makes about $30 an hour, less expenses, as an occasional driver for Uber. He plans to switch to Lyft. >"It’s new, it’s fresh. It’s like waiting in line for the new iPhone — I’ve got to have it,” he said with a laugh. He also likes the company’s mission statement and driver incentives. “At the end of the day, I’m available to the highest bidder.” Are Lyft's incentive better than Uber? Or is…
Lyft tends to pay better than Uber. Have asked drivers who drive for both in about 5-6 cities, all same answer. Lyft is the one you want to drive for.
Re: Lyft's first expansion outside the USA in Toronto next month
#19About time. While Uber is available in almost every major city around the world, Lyft has been US only. I wonder why Lyft is so far behind. Is it just a matter of investment capital?
I believe it is because they are hesitant to blatantly disregard local laws - it's part of their brand persona, they try to be seen as the "nicer uber" - hence they try to play nice with the jurisdictions they expand to, resulting in slower expansion. https://a16z.com/2017/09/25/government-relations-local-lyft/
Certainly a factor, but honestly, I really think this is about building up the business. Uber burns so much money through its quick expansion. You could be the first, one and only one entirely, and last standing, but what really matters is to be the last standing right? The way I see it is Uber has proven shared riding is a great business to build, so Lyft just let Uber paved the way (bring shared riding) and bring shared riding to the rest of the world, while Lyft builds up a competent team in the U.S, then take advantage of shared riding momentum.. In a way think of Lfyt taking a shared ride with Uber but the last to pick up.
Re: Lyft's first expansion outside the USA in Toronto next month
#20I've noticed that Uber seems to have much more competitive pricing in markets (especially airports) where Lyft is also present, compared to markets where they are the only provider. So personally I would welcome Lyft's rapid international expansion.
That's because in general Uber is selling at a loss in those markets to try to drive Lyft out of business. Hence why they're burning through cash like an 18 year-old lottery winner.
It's unsustainable and hopefully Lyft can weather it.