Uber and Lyft continue to grow despite higher travel prices

O Uber and Lyft are emerging from the pandemic as leaner, lower-cost companies with an operating profit and the unexpected power to raise prices without losing passengers.

Urban transport application rates have risen to unprecedented levels this year in USA due to lack of drivers. To the delight of companies, passengers so far seem indifferent, returning to the platforms in ever-increasing numbers.

“I think there is more pricing power than anyone ever realized existed in the industry,” Lyft Chief Financial Officer Brian Roberts said last Tuesday.

On Thursday, Uber Technologies Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi called the current environment a “giant pricing experiment.”

“Even with prices going up … we’re seeing that as cities reopen, people are starting to use the product, and they’re using it a lot,” Khosrowshahi said.

According to an analysis by data company YipitData, the average rates charged per kilometer in the United States in the third quarter were almost 25% higher than in the same period of 2019.

For airport travel, which are among Uber’s and Lyft’s most profitable routes, the price increases were even more pronounced.

Uber’s drivers and food deliverers in the third quarter earned $8.6 billion, 60% more than a year earlier, with driver income growth outpacing the expansion of sales. trips, said Uber last Thursday.

“There will always be a trip at today’s price level, which could be faster acceleration,” Lyft President John Zimmer said in an interview with Reuters. “But it’s really about finding the right trip for the right customer at the right time,” he said, adding that consumers who want a cheaper trip may have to wait longer.