by mk

“We’ve now made car ownership optional on both sides of the market,” Zimmer said, referring to drivers and passengers. “Now you don’t need to own a vehicle to make money on the platform, or to give rides to passengers.”

This highlights the instability of the current value of cars.

Those who use the Express Drive car for less than 40 rides per week pay $99/week plus 20 cents per mile. Those who use the car for between 40 and 64 rides per week pay $99/week flat. And those who use the car for 65 or more rides per week pay nothing at all. And while drivers pay for gas, all other services including insurance are thrown into the single price, regardless of whether you are ‘on call’ with a passenger or driving the car for personal use, Lyft tells me. Cars can be rented for between one and eight weeks.

There is a tension in this pricing. At some point, it becomes better to be a Lyft driver rather than owning a car, and you get the car as much as for your own use as a means of income.