Lyft Unveils New Subscription Plan to Help Philly Riders Lock in Fixed Rates
The company wants you to be able to pay the same amount for your most used route no matter the time of day.
Courtesy photo.
If you’re a creature of habit when it comes to your commute, Lyft’s new subscription plan might be the development you never knew you needed.
This week the ridesharing company unveiled what it calls the Lyft Personal Plan, a subscription service that will allow riders to lock in a fixed price for their most used route.
Customers who to opt into this option simply need to design their custom plan in the app, which involves selecting the route that they’d like to pay the same price for at all times, whether it’s rush hour or the wee hours of the night. The route needs to normally cost $25 or less.
And as for the monthly fee, it varies but will cost customers around $8 a month to participate in the new program.
So, your ride from home to work each morning can be fixed at $9.99 for $8 a month. And within the month, there’s no cap on the number of times you can take the route you select.
“Whether it’s their morning commute, getting to the gym and back or a favorite downtown destination, the Lyft Personal Plan will get riders to their destination for a flat fee,” Lyft Pennsylvania General Manager Andrew Woolf told Philly Mag.
Earlier in the year, Lyft piloted a similar plan known as the Commute Plan, which according to Lyft’s website is purchased for an upfront price and gives riders access to a promotional value for a set number of rides. According to Woolf, the Commute Plan was successful, so the company decided to expand on the idea, hence the new subscription plan.
Lyft also already offers an all-access plan for $299, which allows users to lock in 30 standard Lyft rides (up to $15 each) every month.
Though Lyft rolled out the plan this week, many Philadelphians won’t have access to it until they’re essentially chosen. The company is bringing customers in through exclusive email invites.
A spokesperson told Philly Mag that “Select users have began receiving emails inviting them to participate in the plan and other users will be receiving emails over the span of the next few weeks.”
The company has also been sending beta invites for its all-access plan with an email subject line that reads, “Be one of the first to try our All-Access Plan.”
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The subscription plan has no long-term commitment, so, if riders choose, they can opt for the Personal Plan only during busy months.
Woolf added that the plan is designed to give riders the flexibility to travel their most frequented destinations without having to worry about how much it will cost each time they hop in the car. We’ve all been in that unfortunate situation where a ride we regularly take is listed at two or maybe three times the fare that is normally is.
“With various modes of transportation available to Philadelphians, we wanted to make the decision to choose Lyft an easy one,” Woolf said.
