Cuts Across Lyft’s Ride-Hailing Operations

(CTN News) – In an email Friday, Lyft’s newly appointed CEO, David Risher, informed employees about the company’s restructuring efforts.

According to Risher, the restructuring reflects Lyft’s desire to “better serve riders and drivers.” The company confirmed that it has not changed its guidance for the first quarter despite the upcoming layoffs.

It remains unclear how this could affect programs other than ride-hailing, such as its bike-sharing program.

A driver who uses Lyft’s ride-hailing app for pickups and drops offs does not work for the company. As a result, the layoffs will primarily affect the company’s more than 4,000 full-time employees. The employees will receive an email on April 27 informing them of their employment status.

The number of people who will be laid off is not being disclosed by Lyft. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, about 1,200 workers, or 30% of its total workforce, will be affected by this decision.

A former executive at Amazon, Risher was appointed CEO of Lyft after co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer stepped down last month.

According to Risher’s email, he made the decision to assist the company in achieving two core goals.

People who closely follow Lyft and its struggles to keep pace with rival Uber may not be surprised by this development.

During a late March interview with TechCrunch, Risher disclosed that Lyft might discontinue its shared rides offering and make other changes to its business model to focus on its core ride-hailing business.

Several other products and services could disappear as well, including Wait & Save, which allows riders in certain regions to pay a lower fare if they wait for the closest driver.

“It is possible that we may not need both of them anymore, and we will be able to focus all our resources on doing fewer things better,” Risher told TechCrunch at the time. There may be a time when we should say that shared rides were great for a time, but it is now time to move on.

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