Lyft Moves Toward 'Full Mobility Package'

It's a busy time for the nation's second-biggest ride-hailing company. Lyft recently set a goal of 100 percent renewable energy and carbon neutrality, integrated scooters and public transit info into its mobile app, and delivered its five-thousandth ride in an autonomous vehicle as part of a Las Vegas pilot program.

In an interview with The Planning Report, Lyft's transportation policy head Lilly Shoup outlines where the platform's multimodal expansion is headed and how the company views its relationship with cities, especially in light of a growing trend of first/last-mile partnerships between ride-hailing services and public transit agencies. 

The new initiatives serve Lyft's overarching goals of "decoupling the right to mobility from auto ownership" and reducing vehicle miles traveled, Shoup says. In that vein, scooter and bikesharing operations will be structured around four key policy principles: transportation equity, Vision Zero, transit integration, and environmental sustainability.

When it comes to filling in first/last-mile gaps in public transit service, Shoup says the company will likely focus on "lower-density suburban areas, where it's less efficient to run a bus service." That approach echoes the recommendations of a recent survey of such partnerships around the country.

Read the full interview in The Planning Report.