Lyft Suspends Operations in Connecticut, Second in 2015
So Lyft is not having a good year in terms of legal regulations. Earlier this month, they pulled out of Columbus, Ohio because of “mounting legal pressure from local regulators.” You can read more about here in a post from The Dispatch. Lyft noted that the city is “moving forward with onerous ridesharing requirements that essentially treat Lyft the same as a taxi.”
Last year, they pulled out of Houston and Kansas City for the same legal reasons. However, Uber is still operating in those cities. Uber has worked well with local officials in Houston to get all of their drivers conform to regulations and be properly licensed. From what I heard from other drivers, it is a cumbersome process but the extra staff at Uber made it much easier. The entire process takes a few hours between a few different government buildings in Houston. Uber has also meet the requirements for legal operation in Kansas City.
So starting on Friday, February 6th, Lyft will be suspending operations at 5pm. Drivers are encouraged to either apply for a TLC license to drive in NYC (which makes sense for full time drivers regardless of this suspension of service) or switch to driving for New Jersey. I can’t see many part time drivers willing to drive more than an hour one way to drive for Lyft in New Jersey but it may work out for some full time drivers.
Below is the email a loyal fan from Connecticut had sent in:
[You can click on the picture to send an email to Lyft about changing cities]
Hopefully Lyft can resolve some of their legal issues with various cities and start to expand into more cities. They have been recently focusing on rebranding and hopefully now they can focus on expanding Lyft as a whole.
What do you think about this suspension in Connecticut? Are you upset that they are leaving? Will you now try to drive in NJ/NY or drive for Uber instead? Leave a note in the comments below!
Have more questions about Uber or Lyft? Head on over to our Rideshare Driver Training Course! Driver Promotions- New Uber Drivers will get up to a $800 bonus after signing up: Sign up for Uber.
- New Lyft Drivers will get up to $800 if you sign up here using this link.
