Lyft rides up 150% in metro Phoenix in 2017
Lyft’s ride-sharing service increased ridership 150 percent in the metro Phoenix area in 2017 and brought an estimated $59 million economic benefit to the region, according to the company.
Lyft does not disclose the number of passengers served or number of Arizonans who have signed up to be contract drivers, but it reports both are on the upswing.
The company is generally thought to be smaller than rival Uber, but troubles at that competitor in the past year may be driving business to Lyft.
Uber does not provide a similar economic benefit study but in November said it had served about 700,000 people in Arizona in the past three months.
Lyft surveyed 30,000 passengers across the country to develop the economic impact report.
The survey and economic analyses were done by New Jersey’s MarketView Research Group and Land Econ Group.
Local statistics are based on survey responses from the Phoenix-area, Lyft said.
The survey looked at how much patrons spent on shopping and social activities before and after becoming Lyft passengers.
One-quarter of the spending increase after using the service was estimated to be new spending due to the option of transportation via Lyft.
The revenue gain was multiplied by two, providing an estimate of direct spending, indirect spending (such as a food vendor selling more product to a restaurant patronized by Lyft customers), and spending induced by the initial outlay (such as restaurant workers spending their increased earnings in the region).
Such multipliers are commonly used in economic impact analyses.
The analysis also looked at how much time Lyft customers saved by using the service, and placed a dollar value on that time savings.
Savings were compared to the next best transportation option.
Trip time savings were calculated by multiplying by the number of trips per year, using U.S. Department of Transportation guidelines, according to the report.
The surveys asked for household income, and time savings were based on half the hourly rate of pay earned by Lyft users.
Phoenix-area passengers saved 2.7 million travel hours, valued at $78 million in saved time, according to the analysis.
That is an increase over the 493,000 travel hours saved and $18.6 million in saved time estimated in 2016, according to Lyft.
The $59 million economic impact was about a 50 percent increase over 2016, when the figure was estimated at $39.6 million.
Drena Kusari, Lyft’s Phoenix general manager for the Southwest, said the business is growing even faster than those economic figures indicate.
“Every day, people are accessing new areas of their city in ways they haven’t before, making their daily travels quicker, and are continuing to invest in their cities,” Kusari said.
“Based on these survey results, passengers are saving time, spending locally, and reconsidering personal vehicle ownership when using Lyft in their daily lives — which leads to a tremendous long-term impact on our local economies.”