Mid-day driving for Lyft in San Francisco has its own vibe. It’s a mix of heading to the gym or maybe a physical therapist appointment, off-schedule commuting, and tourists enjoying the end of summer in one of the world’s great cities. I was lucky enough to get some of each today!
My first ride was with Samantha, headed to her morning Pilates class. It was a quick ride— just 10 blocks or so. But she’d missed the bus she’d hope to catch, and her class started in 8 minutes. Luckily I was about 30 seconds away when she called a Lyft. That’s not an accident: we’ve built a lot of ML to match riders and drivers super-fast. It worked!
My second ride was longer. Rebecca's a neurologist and needed to get into her clinic for in-person visits. “As much as I like virtual visits, there’s no substitute for in-person consultations.” We discussed how technology can either push people apart or bring them together. Like many doctors, she uses an electronic patient record system that, unfortunately, can make an in-office visit feel like a trip to the stenographer. (We shared the hope that AI can help someday.) Lyft, on the other hand, serves to bring people closer together. Twenty great minutes!
I then had an experience no driver loves: waiting for ~20 minutes for the next ride. Lyft gave me ideas on how to make the most of the time, showing a map that suggests where demand is the highest. But it’s a fundamental truth of ride-share: As a driver you control when you work, but you can’t know exactly when demand will materialize. Our job at Lyft is to provide as many earnings opportunities as possible, with fairness and transparency, for the 1.3 million drivers on the platform each year.
Luckily, the dry spell ended and I got one of the most interesting rides of my life. Three friends— two from Oviedo, Spain, visiting a friend living here, originally from Germany— all crowded in the car, full of energy, on their way to pick up a fourth, then continue on their way to spend time together.
When I mentioned I was Lyft’s CEO, all hell broke loose. After a quick Google verification, they launched into product idea after product idea on what would make for an even better experience— and they were great ideas. Someday we may launch one of them, thanks to the conversation in the car!
Finally I turned on my “destination” filter, a tool in the Lyft driver app that lets you pick up riders as you make your way home. My final rider got in the car with headphones on, clearly in a Zen state. So I flipped the music from pop to mellow, and we drove in near silence for 10 minutes to her appointment. As she got out, she thanked me for a peaceful, quiet ride— none the wiser about who I was. (She did leave me a $4 tip— nice.)
As always, I drive to learn, not to earn. But at least for me, the flexibility of being able to turn the app on and off at any time, learn a bunch along the way and genuinely enjoy myself is incredibly special.
