Lyft Application Now Available in 6 Countries!
Lyft announced that they were partnering up with Didi and Grab last year, but you weren’t able to use the Lyft passenger application in any international countries. As of yesterday, Lyft has enabled the Lyft passenger app to be able to request a ride through their partner Grab in 6 countries. As of yesterday, integration with Didi is not complete yet so you are still not able to request a Lyft in China, but Lyft expects to be integrated soon. Using the Lyft passenger app in China would be extremely helpful as in order to use Didi in China, you need a Chinese phone number and I was not in China long enough to get my own SIM card and corresponding phone number to use the native Didi application.
I believe that adding coverage in China would be a huge improvement for American tourist because Uber is only available in 30 major cities in China. I was traveling in China a few months ago and they were not available in many of the smaller cities I was in. Traveling through the smaller cities is more difficult as there is often less public transportation, which means I would be more likely to use taxis. My mandarin isn’t very good, so it was pretty painful to get a taxi. With the Lyft application, it would make it much easier to travel around China, and Didi is in a few hundred markets in China.
To sign up as a passenger on Lyft, you can use the link below to get started and get your first ride up to $20 free!
Below is the list of cities and countries you can use Lyft in:
Indonesia
Malaysia
Singapore
Thailand
The Philippines
Vietnam
Lyft Passenger Test
I have attempted to use my Lyft passenger application to request a ride in those countries, but it says that Lyft is not available in those areas. I wasn’t able to see it as I still have the last released version on Android.
In order to use this international feature, you will either need the iOS application or the beta Android application (as of 6-15-2016). The Android update should be available next week.
Below are some screenshots my fellow drivers sent me:
Comparison of Uber and Lyft Rates
Here is a comparison of Lyft’s rates along with Uber’s rates in these cities:
| Uber | Lyft | |||||||||
| Base | Cancel | Min | Mile | Time | Base Charge | Cancel Penalty Amount | Cost Minimum | Cost Per Mile | Cost Per Minute | |
| Bali | $ 0.53 | $ 0.75 | $ 0.53 | $ 0.27 | $ 0.03 | $ 0.52 | $ – | $ 0.74 | $ 0.48 | $ – |
| Jakarta | $ 0.23 | $ 2.26 | $ 0.23 | $ 0.24 | $ 0.02 | $ 0.22 | $ – | $ 0.74 | $ 0.48 | $ – |
| Kuala Lumpur | $ 0.24 | $ 1.24 | $ 0.24 | $ 0.24 | $ 0.06 | $ 0.24 | $ – | $ – | $ 0.51 | $ – |
| Singapore | $ 2.23 | $ 4.46 | $ 2.23 | $ 0.53 | $ 0.15 | $ 2.21 | $ – | $ 2.95 | $ 0.94 | $ – |
| Bangkok | $ 0.71 | $ 1.28 | $ 0.71 | $ 0.20 | $ 0.03 | $ 0.84 | $ – | $ 1.41 | $ 0.41 | $ – |
| Phuket | $ – | $ – | $ – | $ – | $ – | $ 4.24 | $ – | $ 7.08 | $ 0.72 | $ – |
| Manila | $ 0.87 | $ 2.18 | $ 0.87 | $ 0.20 | $ 0.04 | $ 1.08 | $ – | $ 1.29 | $ 0.52 | $ – |
| Hanoi | $ 0.22 | $ 0.22 | $ 0.22 | $ 0.36 | $ 0.01 | $ – | $ – | $ 0.80 | $ 0.64 | $ – |
| Ho Chi Minh City | $ 0.20 | $ 0.67 | $ 0.67 | $ 0.50 | $ 0.02 | $ – | $ – | $ 0.52 | $ 0.84 | $ – |
Here are the side by side comparisons for a 13 minute, 3 mile trip on either service in the above cities:
| Uber | Lyft | |
| Bali | $ 4.07 | $ 1.96 |
| Jakarta | $ 3.43 | $ 1.66 |
| Kuala Lumpur | $ 3.52 | $ 1.77 |
| Singapore | $ 9.62 | $ 5.03 |
| Bangkok | $ 3.45 | $ 2.07 |
| Phuket | $ – | $ 6.40 |
| Manila | $ 3.59 | $ 2.64 |
| Hanoi | $ 4.92 | $ 1.92 |
| Ho Chi Minh City | $ 6.79 | $ 2.52 |
As you can see, Lyft is significantly cheaper than Uber in all of these cities. It is mainly because there is no per-minute charge on Lyft through Grab. We will see once the prices through Didi are published on the Lyft website, but I would expect a similar trend.
This is very exciting for Lyft as now they are in a few additional countries and cities and is significantly cheaper than Uber. I will definitely be using Lyft in these countries to get around due to its much lower cost.
What do you think about this update?
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