Lyft will soon display public transit options

Carlos
Jasso/Reuters

• Lyft and a company called Trafi are partnering to add
  additional transportation methods like public transit to Lyft’s
  in-app routing system. 
• Riders will be able to choose different combinations of
  transit — like taking a subway or bus before or after hopping
  in a Lyft vehicle. 
• The move is meant to give Lyft users more flexible and
  affordable routes to their destinations. 
• Riders in Santa Monica will receive the update first,
  but Lyft plans to roll the feature out to more cities in the
  future.

Sometimes that Lyft pricing can be just too much during peak
hours, and the longer (but cheaper) subway or bus ride starts to
look like a better option.

Lyft’s newly-announced partnership with Trafi, a mobility services company,
is meant to give riders a little more control over how they get
to their final destination — which could result in a cheaper,
albeit perhaps longer, ride. It’s a move that’s meant to
eliminate the issues with what the industry calls the first- or
last- mile of a trip, where there isn’t always a transit option
immediately available. 

The partnership will bring public transit options in-app, which
means riders can choose between different combinations of Lyft
rides and ‘Nearby Transit’ like scooters, subways or buses,
without having to leave the Lyft app. This is meant to allow
passengers “to choose the most affordable and flexible trip
that works for them,” according to a press release from
Trafi.

Lyft’s
‘Nearby Transit’ feature will show users additional
transportation methods, like public transit and
scooters.
Lyft

So if a Lyft rider doesn’t live close enough to a subway
station or bus stop, he or she could choose to use Lyft for half
of the trip, then get dropped off at a public transit station to
continue the rest of the trip, for example. Lyft’s dockless
scooters were just launched in Santa Monica, California, and
they will be displayed as alternative transit options as
well. 

The Nearby Transit option is similar to the service offered
by Citymapper, an
app that pools together available transit options in a certain
area and lets users sort through various combinations of
transportation. 

The feature will only be available in Santa Monica
initially — but Lyft has plans to roll it out to additional
cities in the future. 

Coinciding with the Trafi partnership, Lyft announced the
hiring of Lilly Shoup as Senior Director of
Transportation Policy, where she will “continue to bring
transportation planning and policy best practices to the
forefront of Lyft’s strategic efforts,” Lyft said in a press
release.