Talk:Lyft/Archives/2017

Buetian
The intro states: "Lyft[...] was founded by a buetian." What is that? Never heard of it, a google search did not help. Misspelling? Of what though? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2003:7D:AF6E:8700:8D7F:D2D8:29A:415D (talk) 20:07, 14 May 2017 (UTC)

Suggested changes/ Independent review
I have a number of changes to suggest to make this article read better and be more up to date. I have a conflict of interest as a paid consultant to Lyft, though, so in accordance with Wikipedia's poicies, WP: COI, I'd ask that all my suggestions, below, be independently reviewed. If the reviewer says Approved /Rejected per section and/or modifies the suggestions and then approves of them below, then I am allowed to input the changes for the update myself. I'd be happy to discuss any of these suggestions and make further modifications.BC1278 (talk) 21:25, 14 March 2017 (UTC)BC1278

1. Lead. I think this packs in more info and gives more perspective, for someone who doesn't already know the company:

Lyft is an American transportation network company based in San Francisco, California. Launched in June 2012 by Logan Green and John Zimmer, the company's mobile-phone application facilitates peer-to-peer ridesharing by connecting passengers who need a ride with drivers who have a car.

Lyft operates in about 300 U.S. cities, including New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles and provides 18.7 million shared rides a month. The company was valued at $5.5 billion as of January 2016. Lyft has raised more than $2 billion from investors.

2. History. The following is more comprehensive and explains how the company shifted from Zimride to Lyft. It also cites a source for everything below, whereas the current draft is sometimes lacking in sourcing.

Establishment

Lyft was launched in the summer of 2012 by Logan Green and John Zimmer as a service of Zimride, a long-distance ridesharing company the two founded in 2007. Zimride focused on ridesharing for longer trips, often between cities, and linked drivers and passengers through the Facebook Connect application. Zimride eventually became the largest rideshare program in the United States (U.S.).

Green had the inspiration for Zimride after sharing rides from the University of California, Santa Barbara campus to visit his girlfriend in Los Angeles. He had used Craigslist’s ride boards, but wanted to eliminate the anxiety of not knowing the passenger or driver. When Facebook opened its API to third-party developers, Green said he thought "Here’s the missing ingredient." Green was introduced to John Zimmer through a mutual friend and the pair initially met on Facebook. The company name comes from the country Zimbabwe, where, during a trip in 2005, Green observed locals sharing minivan taxis. He said, "I came back to the US inspired to create that same form of transportation here." Green had coding experience and was able to develop the site in four months. Zimride launched the first version of the rideshare program at Cornell University, where, after six months, the service had signed up 20% of the campus. By using Facebook profile information, student drivers and passengers could learn about each other.

In May of 2013, the company officially changed its name from Zimride to Lyft. The change from Zimride to Lyft was the result of a hackathon that sought a means of daily engagement with its users, instead of once or twice a year.

Transition to Lyft

Whereas Zimride was focused on college campuses, Lyft launched as an on-demand ridesharing network for shorter trips within cities. Similar to Zimride, the app connects drivers with cars to passengers that need rides. Drivers and passengers rate each other on a five-star scale after each ride, and the ratings establish the reputations of both drivers and passengers within the network. In order to take advantage of the Lyft system, clients must set up an account that links directly to a funding source such as a debit card or PayPal account. Once the ride is completed, funds are debited from the funding source. Lyft then retains approximately 20-25% (20% from drivers who applied before January 2016 and 25% from those who applied starting January 2016) of this total as business revenue.

As a brand, Lyft became know for the large pink furry mustaches drivers attached to the front of their cars. Riders were also encouraged to sit in the front seat and fist bump with drivers upon meeting. In January of 2015, Lyft introduced a small, glowing plastic dashboard mustache it called a "glowstache" as an alternative to the large fuzzy mustaches on the front of cars. The transition was to help overcome the resistance of some riders to arrive to destinations, such as business meetings, in a car with a giant mustache. In December 2016 Lyft introduced a new color-changing dashboard indicator called "Amp."

In April of 2014, Lyft launched in 24 new U.S. cities in 24 hours, bringing tis total to 60 U.S. cities. In August of 2014, the company introduced Lyft Line, allowing passengers to split fare on shared rides.

Due to regulatory hurdles in New York City, the company decided to significantly alter its business model to establish Lyft on the East Coast. Lyft’s launch in New York City occurred on the evening of July 25, 2014 and, in accordance with the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) and the approval of the Manhattan Supreme Court, only drivers registered with the TLC were permitted to drive Lyft-branded vehicles in New York City.

In May of 2016, Lyft began offering a service to let clients schedule rides up to 24-hours in advance. Also in the summer of 2016, Lyft started to offer riders the ability to make multiple stops during a trip.

In January of 2017, Lyft said it would add 100 U.S. cities, bringing its total to 300 U.S. cities served.

'''3. Financial Results. These are updated.'''

In 2014, the company said it had grown ride numbers and revenue by five times.

The company said revenue grew 250% to $700 million in 2016, on a loss of $600 million. In January 2017 the company announced it facilitated 160 million rides combined in all cities where it operates.

BC1278 (talk) 21:25, 14 March 2017 (UTC)BC1278


 * Looks like you've been ignored, BC. Such is typical for editors who choose to follow the Wikimedia Foundation policy on conflict of interest disclosure.  Had you just made the changes quietly to the article, there's a 95% chance nobody would have noticed or cared. - 2001:558:1400:4:4D82:8201:D338:7C3 (talk) 14:17, 6 April 2017 (UTC)
 * I've been following the official Wikipedia policy on COI disclosure for years and it works fine. You just have to be patient as the queue for reviews is rather long. The last thing you want to do is violate the policy and put the subject of the article at a risk of a public scandal that they're making changes to an article about them without an independent review and disclosure. Stories like that have made their way to the front page of the NY TImes if the subject is prominent enough. http://nyti.ms/2oeP7w5 Any editor is free to review the suggested changes, here, or on any other disclosed request. Just write if you approve or disapprove of (or want to modify) the proposed changes, individually or as a group,  and then the editor with the conflict is allowed to make the change. BC1278 (talk) 17:21, 9 April 2017 (UTC)BC1278
 * I have no idea why you contacted me out of all the editors out there but I think that the proposed changes are neutral and can thus be incorporated into the article.--Catlemur (talk) 19:00, 9 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank you. It's because you contributed to the Lyft article in the past. I just went down the list of contributors to the article, starting with the most recent, and contacted several. Contacting editors who have previously contributed to an article is recommended by Wikipedia as one means of getting an independent review. BC1278 (talk) 19:06, 9 April 2017 (UTC)BC1278
 * Checking if there's anything else you want commentary on or to be incorporated, otherwise this request should be marked as answered. Appreciate your patience either way, and if you're waiting for more opinions than Catlemur, I'll go ahead and second that these seem like appropriate additions. Mehmuffin (talk) 16:26, 7 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Also, just a small thing, but I believe for all your web citations with Lyft, Inc. as author the correct format would be publisher=Lyft, Inc., so that the reflist doesn't end up with all those "Inc., Lyft,"s at the start of the citations. Mehmuffin (talk) 14:39, 8 June 2017 (UTC)