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Lyft crosses the Atlantic as US app prepares to go live for taxi passengers in London
Lyft is launching its main rider app in Europe, allowing North American customers to use their existing account to book journeys across a growing number of European cities without downloading a separate local app.
The rollout starts today, 30 September, with early access in Barcelona and Hamburg. Lyft said availability will expand throughout October to major cities including London, Rome, Paris, Berlin, Athens and Warsaw.
By the end of October, visiting riders are expected to be able to use the Lyft app in Spain, Italy, Greece, Poland, England, Scotland, Ireland, Austria, France and Germany.
The move opens up a huge new audience for the UK taxi and private hire sector with Lyft already owning European mobility platform Freenow and UK corporate ground transport business Gett. For drivers operating on those platforms, the company says the integration will introduce an additional source of passenger demand from North American visitors.
Lyft said users travelling from North America will be able to continue using the same Lyft account and payment methods they already use in the US and Canada.
Sid Patil, Lyft’s Chief Rideshare and Marketplace Officer, said: “Millions of riders across North America trust Lyft to get them where they’re going every day. Now that same app works the moment they land in Europe. No need to download anything new.”
He added: “Every market we connect makes the network stronger for riders and drivers. This expansion takes us from being your neighborhood rideshare app to a global, multi-mobility platform.”
Rather than building a separate driver network for the Lyft app in each European city, the company has developed a backend framework capable of connecting its rider application with third-party mobility marketplaces. This allows a Lyft customer to request a journey through the familiar app while accessing driver supply from the connected marketplace.
The European launch is the first use of the technology. Lyft says the framework has been designed so additional marketplaces and countries can be connected in future, potentially giving the company a faster route into new territories without having to establish an entirely separate marketplace in each location.
For the taxi and private hire industry, that model could become an important part of Lyft’s international strategy. Existing driver networks gain access to additional demand while Lyft gains geographic coverage for its North American customer base through marketplace integrations.
The company said European customers can continue using the Freenow by Lyft and Gett by Lyft apps. There is therefore no immediate requirement for existing European passengers to migrate to the main Lyft application.
Drivers working through those platforms could, however, see bookings generated by North American visitors using Lyft. The company said the launch would provide drivers with “a new source of demand” as travellers use their existing Lyft accounts during European trips.
Lyft is also planning changes to how international transactions are handled. During the next year, customers are expected to gain the option of paying either in their home currency, such as US dollars, or in the local currency where the journey takes place.
The October London launch places another major consumer-facing ride-booking brand into the capital’s digital transport market, although the underlying supply will be connected through Lyft’s European operations rather than necessarily representing a new standalone pool of drivers.
