Lyft seems to have gotten a lift from Ubergate.
A rep for the company says last week was the biggest week yet for the company. The rep declined to go into specifics, but said "percentage-wise" it was the ride-share company's biggest boost yet.
Lyft's big week comes after Uber grappled with a PR crisis after Emil Michael, the company's EVP floated the idea of probing journalists critical of the company. Though the comments may have been taken out of context, the story prompted hand-wringing discussions about Uber's ethics. A New York Times story over the weekend asked "To Delete or Not to Delete: That’s the Uber Question."
[seealso slug="uber-op-ed"]
The biggest beneficiary to such discussions was Lyft, Uber's largest rival. Disgusted with the Uber reports, many took to Twitter over the past few days to announce they were switching to Lyft:
Thanks to @Uber's @emilmichael, I think I may finally be ready to give @lyft a shot.
— Brian Ries (@moneyries) November 18, 2014
Joined the disenfranchised - reinstalled @lyft, uninstalled @Uber. Too bad it was impossible to delete my acct/CC info. #ugh #ubergate
— Elaine Ordiz (@lainegrace) November 20, 2014
Things are really looking up for @lyft #ubergate #uber I know who I'll use, if I ever fail to hail a cab again, and it's not @Uber
— Richard LaRue (@richard_larue) November 18, 2014
Reading the two articles on @uber, I'm feeling it's time to get the @lyft app.
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) November 18, 2014
To greet the influx of new riders, Lyft has posted this to address the common misconceptions that passengers are required to fist bump the driver and sit in the front seat. (See below.)
Uber reps could not be reached for comment.