Uber's recent public relations problems are great news for its chief rival Lyft according to a report from VentureBeat. Customers upset after an Uber executive suggested spending a million dollars to investigate journalists who write negatively about the company may have been partly responsible for the most Lyft rides ever in a single week. Lyft even sent an email to users to tell them about it and about what it says sets Lyft apart. According to "The Insider's Guide to Lyft" email, Lyft is fun and safe, and perhaps even slightly silly judging from the illustrations used in the email you can see below.
"How you ride with Lyft is up to you," the email states. "At the end of the day, Lyft is about helping each other get to where we want to go."
The other controversy plaguing Uber has been concerns over its privacy policy and whether its doing all it can to keep customer data private. According to VentureBeat, Lyft is making a point to keep its privacy standards as stringent as possible with has "proactively made additional updates to further safeguard our community members’ privacy."
Not that Uber is likely to be worried about losing too much market share. It's been having a pretty good few weeks in expanding its user base and just a few weeks ago a study came out revealing that it is earning a dozen times the revenue of Lyft. And the rivalry hasn't stopped the two companies from teaming up to take on taxi companies. On the other hand, other ride-share companies like the California-based FlyWheel have been quick to jump on the Uber mess and lump in Lyft too in promoting itself as "the no-surge, non-asshole alternative to Uber and Lyft" in a promotional email.
Since Uber and Lyft are likely to soon outnumber regular taxis, in Virginia at least, these kinds of battles for the hearts, minds and wallets of ride-share users will matter more and more. And if Lyft can get the reputation as the friendly, safe company, it will have a big advantage.
"Wherever you’re headed this holiday, know that your community is just a button tap away," Lyft wrote.
