(Lyft)
Uber's recent struggles — including the resignation on Tuesday night of CEO Travis Kalanick — appear to have given a big boost to its archrival, Lyft.
Even as Uber's market share shrinks, more people are taking more rides with Lyft. And the smaller ride-hailing company, known for its pink mustache symbol, is seeing more people openly identify as Lyft customers.
Among them: Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives. When asked at a tech conference Wednesday which ride service she uses, Jackson said, "Lyft all day."
Uber’s US market share fell from 84% at the beginning of this year to 77% at the end of May, according to research firm Second Measure. Meanwhile, Lyft’s bookings were up 135% year-over-year in April, according to PYMNTS.com.
"When it comes to their market share, the damage has been done," said Michael Ramsey, a research director at Gartner.
"On the other side of Uber making these mistakes, Lyft has been the foil to them in that the impression they leave is that they’re a better run company with better values," he added. "You have to give them credit."
Uber's business has been rocked by a series of scandals and controversies since since the beginning of the year when the company broke a taxi strike in New York, and in response, critics launched a #deleteuber campaign. Things only got worse after February 19, when former Uber engineer Susan Fowler posted about her experiences at the company, alleging pervasive sexism and that she was sexually harassed by a manager.
In the wake of the scandals, numerous executives have left Uber, the company fired more than 20 employees, and its board agreed to adopt some 47 new policies and changes to its workplace that were recommended by an outside law firm. And most recently, Kalanick stepped down.
Lyft saw a more than 60% increase in passenger activations in the seven days following #deleteuber, a company representative said. In all, Lyft tallied 70.4 million rides in the first quarter. That was up 142% from the same period a year earlier. It was also up 36% just from the fourth quarter of last year, before all the drama started at Uber.
When Uber announced Tuesday that it would allow some drivers to accept tips in its app, Lyft took to Twitter to take a shot at its archrival. Painting itself as the more driver-friendly company, Lyft noted that riders have been able to tip drivers through its app for nearly five years.
Lyft's strategy of painting itself as the friendly alternative to Uber has been effective, because it’s so easy for customers to change which ride hailing service they use, Ramsey said.