Lyft partners with Shell, Hertz, Stripe to provide perks for drivers

Lyft has entered into a partnership with Hertz Global to offer its drivers rental cars, the ride-hailing business said this past week.

On Thursday, Lyft announced Express Pay, and other new programs, including discounted rental cars and gas. For payments, Lyft is promising drivers that they can get theirs on the same day that they drive, once they reach $50 in earnings. Lyft, which integrates tipping into its app, said drivers have earned more than $40 million in tips since the company was founded in 2012.

Drivers will also receive discounts on gas purchases at Shell stations nationwide, starting in early 2016. This will make it easier for people who don’t own cars – or have cars that meet Lyft’s standards – to become drivers for the service. To keep up, Lyft has been developing incentive programs to lure drivers from Uber.

“Driver support is a key differentiator for Lyft”.

In a corresponding blog post on its site, Lyft touts that the Express Pay feature makes it “the first and only ride-sharing company to deliver instant payouts”.

Wired adds that Lyft’s announced partnerships highlight the company’s aim to strengthen its position against archrival Uber.

For more information about the Fuel Rewards program, the Lyft partnership, or to arrange an interview with company executives, please contact Vanessa Horwell at vhorwell@thinkinkpr.com (305.749.5342, x232) or Patricia Nunez at pnunez@thinkinkpr.com (305.749.5342, x233). But under the rental agreement, drivers are forbidden from using those rented cars for any other goal than Lyft and personal use.

But another driver, who asked not to be identified because he thought Lyft might deactivate him for criticizing it, had a more cynical view.

Rapaport said she believed that implicit in the new announcements was a drive toward increasing the number of drivers at Lyft with an emphasis on part-time drivers.

Thirty minutes after Lyft emailed drivers inviting them to the press event in San Francisco, Uber also emailed its local drivers with an invite for the exact same time. The company is also expanding rapidly, with a new engineering hub in Seattle, Washington, and a customer experience center in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Hertz-Lyft partnership has been in beta in Las Vegas and will launch to other cities across the country soon.

Lyft wants to have enough drivers on the street so passengers never have to wait more than three minutes.

Vehicle rental deals are great, but what about helping drivers get paid?

David Rust, Lyft’s head of operations strategy, said today that a few drivers can expect to pay nothing at the pump if they work long enough hours during a given week.