Uber and Lyft facing shortages of drivers

Ride hailing companies Uber and Lyft are facing a shortage for drivers. The number of drivers based in US is down by 40 percent. Both the companies have said that they are ready to spend millions of dollars to get back the drivers to the driver’s seat. An announcement was made by Uber on April 7, 2021 that said that it is launching a stimulus for drivers which will be worth $250 million. With the move, the company is hoping that it would be able to get back its drivers to the platform.

Dennis Cinelli The vice president at Uber for mobility in the US and Canada said that in 2020 a number of drivers had stopped driving as a number of them could not get enough trips to make it worth their time. Cinelli added that in 2021, more riders were requesting trips than the drivers who are available and this is making it tough for the drivers.

On the other hand Lyft is busy covering the cost of the rental cars while offering $800 bonuses to the drivers who get back to the app. Moreover, the company is also rewarding extra tip for the drives when the trip lasts more than nine minutes. Here the company is making efforts to bring back the drivers who have earlier logged off after they were discouraged by the lack of riders. Here the biggest problem remains the coronavirus pandemic as it continues to affect the businesses of both the ride hailing companies.

As the number of cases had increased during the winter holidays, the company had lost a significant number of riders. It was noticed that people remained at home during the pandemic and those who stepped out did not prefer to get the rides. During the final quarter of 2020, Uber had said that it only had 93 million monthly active platform consumers. Even Lyft has reported a drop in the monthly active users by 45 percent.

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