Lyft’s New Rewards Program Promises Ride Discounts and Comfier Cars

Lyft is getting into the rewards game.

In a bid to build loyalty with its customers, the ridesharing company will offer points for every dollar you spend on a ride. Build up enough points and you’ll be offered various perks such as upgrades to a comfier Lyft Lux vehicle and savings on future rides. Customers can track their points progress within the Lyft app so they can see how close they are to receiving their next perk.

Lyft Rewards rolls out in December 2018 to select riders in a bunch of cities across the United States, with plans to make it available to more riders next year.

“Riders who will be eligible to start earning rewards should be on the lookout for an email or notification from Lyft,” the San Francisco-based company said in a blog post announcing the new feature.

Over the next few months, Lyft said it plans to tweak and refine its rewards program, and may add more benefits such as double-points days and access to more experienced drivers. If you have any suggestions for other perks, it wants you to get in touch.

Lyft Rewards looks set to bring some useful benefits to regular riders, though let’s hope it doesn’t take the company too long to offer the feature to riders nationwide so that everyone can get to enjoy it.

Other programs aimed at pleasing riders include Lyft’s recently launched All-Access Plan. The subscription-based system charges $299 a month for 30 rides that cost up to $15 each — if a single ride costs more than $15, you pay the difference, and if you take more than 30 rides, Lyft promises to discount subsequent fares by 5 percent.

You can cancel the All-Access Plan any time you like. Otherwise, you’ll continue to be automatically charged on a monthly basis.

The features are part of a range of efforts by Lyft to encourage loyalty among its riders as the company takes the battle to rival services — Uber most prominent among them.

Like Uber, Lyft wants to become a one-stop shop for urbanites’ transportation solutions, an ambition that prompted it to acquire the largest U.S. bikesharing operator, Motivate, in July for a reported $250 million, while in September it launched its first scootershare service in Denver, Colorado.

Whether you’re a regular rider with Lyft or Uber or yet to take your first ridesharing trip, take a moment to check out Digital Trends’ insightful guide on how the two services compare.