There has been a significant rise in the sharing economy over the past few years. Companies like Airbnb have done a great job of pushing the concept forward. Ridesharing is a hot trend these days and a number of startups have already been created just to make it easier for people to get rides at cheaper fares. Lyft is one such startup which is now on the course of aggressive expansion in the U.S. It announced today that the ridesharing service will now be available in 24 additional cities bringing the total number of markets served by Lyft up to 60.
Lyft’s rival, Uber, is already quite a long way ahead of it. The company has presence in dozens of cities around the world whereas Lyft is only limited to the U.S. for now. Uber announced yesterday that it now serves 100 cities, with Beijing being its latest international destination.
At the start of last year Lyft was only available in one city, San Francisco. Its certainly a remarkable feat that in under two years the startup has managed to expand to 60 cities across the country. Lyft president John Zimmer says that the startup will soon reveal its first international market as well.
In order to get users to sign up in these new cities, Lyft is going to offer free rides for the first fortnight. In existing markets it is cutting fares by an additional 10 percent. This is the second discount that Lyft has applied this month, the first being a “Sprint Pricing” discount that slashed fares by 20 percent in all markets.
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