Lyft adding new features to help keep drivers happy
Lyft wants to keep its drivers happy, and it is rolling out a series of updates to keep them driving for its service and not Uber, Via or other competitors.
On Thursday, the No. 2 ride-sharing service added several enhancements to improve its relationship with its drivers. While none of the perks is as flashy as Uber’s points program that can give drivers a free college education through Arizona State University’s online program, they are still welcome updates to make the experience of driving better.
Among the notable new additions: in-ride tipping, automatically dropping a driver’s lowest rating for every 100 rides they give and a default fivestar rating if the rider forgets to rate their driver. Lyft will additionally require ratings of four stars or lower to be explained by riders, with low ratings given due to factors outside a driver’s control – such as heavy traffic – no longer counting against the driver.
The company is also adding a new default tipping option allowing riders to set a tip percentage that the company will automatically apply to each ride they take as opposed to the current system of manually adding in tips after the ride. A new schedule feature will allow drivers to plan their week in advance by looking at when Lyft thinks demand will be highest.
The new features come in part from a “Driver Advisory Council,” a group the company created in 2016 to improve the relationship with its drivers.