Lyft coming to Brooklyn and Queens

So you live in New York, but you, of course, keep it real and reside in either Brooklyn and Queens. There’s a downside to not being a Manhattan-ite, however. Even though you’re saving a ton of money on rent, your public transportation options are pretty limited.

Well it looks like you’ll have more choices soon, as Lyft will be launching in the New York City area, but exclusively in Brooklyn and Queens.

BK and Queens are notorious for having spotty transportation and this is why Lyft is focusing their efforts on these areas initially:

“Brooklyn and Queens are vastly underserved by public transit options compared to the rest of New York City.”

Unfortunately, this means that the drivers are restricted to traveling within these boroughs, so you won’t be able to to hitch a ride from Manhattan to your house using Lyft’s service, or do any other interboro traveling.

The big question is whether or not Lyft will be able to compete with Uber, especially since the latter taxi service has reduced rates on its UberX service by 20%. In order to try and get people to try its service out, Lyft will offer free rides to early adopters for two weeks.

Lyft won’t just be facing competition from Uber, but it will also have to get through the traditional NYC Taxi system, which will probably be trying its darndest to put new taxi services like Lyft out of commission. The newcomer does have a leg up over the competition and even traditional Taxis in one area however: its stringent insurance policies and increased coverage. The beefed up policy coverage should give Lyft some clout when dealing with the local NYC taxi regulatory authority.

If Lyft is a success in these two boroughs, then expect the service to extend to Manhattan and then, as the saying goes, if Lyft can make it there, it can make it anywhere. Anybody think that the car service will be able to be a worthy competitor to Uber?

Source | Via