By: Jefferson Graham,
No. 2 ride-hailing company Lyft has a pitch for passengers: a monthly subscription plan, offering 30 rides for $299.
The fine print: each ride is worth $15 and if you take a longer route that’s worth more, you’ll pay the difference. And if your ride is worth less than $15, it will still count as a $15 minimum ride.
Lyft says the All-Access plan equals $450 worth of value for $299. And it’s throwing in a 5% discount on additional rides over the initial 30.
Lyft is positioning the subscription plan as a low-cost alternative to young people owning cars, and ditching the monthly car payments, insurance, maintenance and gas charges with the luxury of having someone else do the driving, and also eliminate the pain and cost of parking. Lyft estimates the average cost of car ownership is $9,000 yearly.
