Yahoo Finance Lyft co-founder: 'We saw airport trips roar back'
Ride-sharing giant Lyft (LYFT) continued making strides in the second quarter amid strength in the travel industry's recovery, even as the U.S. struggles with an inflationary environment.
"We had a post-COVID high on rides and riders," Lyft Co-Founder and President John Zimmer told Yahoo Finance Live on August 5 (video above). "Transportation is critical, is essential for people to get around as they start traveling more."
While consumers have pulled back spending in key areas like retail and housing, that hasn't yet translated into ride-sharing. Lyft topped its second-quarter estimates with a revenue beat of over $990 million. Additionally, the ride-sharing company boasted a pandemic-high of 19.9 million active riders and near-record revenues per ride at $49.89.
"We saw airport trips roar back with the highest of our overall trips being airports than ever before," Zimmer said. "It's what we said when the pandemic was happening: Look, transportation is gonna come back as it gets safer, as more people get vaccines."
In May, Zimmer also told Yahoo Finance he was anticipating "a big wave of demand on the horizon" going forward after reporting an $875 million revenue beat. The company's stock plummeted 45% in May alone despite showing significant gains in active riders and drivers.
For the latest quarter, he attributed the success to cost-cutting measures like its hiring slowdown.
In late July, Lyft laid off 2% of its workforce — about 60 people — and stopped renting cars to its drivers. Zimmer said it came down to prioritizing projects by "doing less" and "having more focus."
Despite the impressive earnings results, 2022 has been somewhat of a bumpy ride for Lyft.
Both Lyft and its competitor Uber (UBER) priced in surcharges earlier this year to offset drivers' gas expenses as fuel prices skyrocketed — Lyft's being $0.55 tacked on to each customer's ride.
"Cutting expenses is one way to get more profit — but it's not the only way," Zimmer said. "And so every dollar matters, yes, and we're being more and more scrutinous of ... every dollar that we spend."
'Full-on transportation solution'
As Lyft enters its next stage of growth, Zimmer said the company sees itself as "a full-on transportation solution."
The expanse of the ride-share kingpin's empire touches on all the major themes in automation and transportation, from its partnership with Citi Bike to developing autonomous, electric robotaxis.
Bikes, in particular, have been an area of success for Lyft.
"We have Citi Bike in New York City," Zimmer said. "It's on almost every other street corner, and it's a really large and essential part of transportation for those living in New York. We have those systems across the country ... What we're seeing is that people who maybe hadn't tried Lyft earlier come and download the app, take a bike ride, and then use us for ride-sharing."
Lyft Maps is another area where he sees opportunity. The platform detects street closures and traffic delays.
According to ZDNet, it "uses that information to improve overall routing capabilities. It also incorporates data around factors like which doors and street corners people exit venues from. The platform optimizes pickups and drop-offs to save drivers time, help position them for the next ride and avoid unnecessary tolls."
"With Lyft Maps ... we can provide a better experience to drivers and more efficient routes," Zimmer said. "The other thing is providing them more transparency on the trips that they have the options to take ... and so giving them that information up front aligns their information and incentives with that of the rider community."
Luke is a producer for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter @theLukeCM.
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