Lyft Rolls Out New Subscription Service in Major US Cities

Ride hailing app Lyft is launching a new monthly subscription service in major US cities designed to save frequent users a little bit of money.

The subscription model, referred to by Lyft as “All-Access Plans”, will cost $200 per month. For that price, users will receive $15 off 30 rides. That means that any ride that is less than $15, as many Lyft rides given in city centers are, will be free for the user. If the ride amounts to more than $15, the user will simply pay the difference.

As of today, users who open the Lyft app will see a message asking if they would like to join a waitlist for the All-Access Plans. If they do, they will be put on a list and contacted when their subscription can be activated. Users won’t be charged for reserving a spot, so there’s no harm in throwing your name on the list out of curiosity.

This plan is part of a wider-reaching scheme by Lyft to reduce Americans’ reliance on personal car ownership to get around. Last month, Lyft CEO Logan Green was quoted in saying “we are going to move the entire industry from one based on ownership to one based on subscription.” Green also expressed his desire to bring autonomous vehicles to market at the time, pairing them with its ride-hailing app and subscription service to hopefully provide city dwellers with an easy-to-use and inexpensive transport solution.

Lyft also recently said it would launch a ride-hailing service in Las Vegas using self-driving BMW’s developed by Dublin, Ireland based firm Aptiv. If successful, the pilot program could one day expand outside of the Las Vegas Metro area, although recent accidents such as Uber’s and Wyamo’s have some regulators rethinking the decision to allow autonomous vehicles to test on public roads.

The Lyft All-Access Plans subscription service is being launched in major US cities today.

[Source: TechCrunch]