Now anyone can order a Lyft for someone else without a Lyft account

You officially don't need a Lyft account to order a Lyft.

Developers can now facilitate a Lyft ride for someone else without a Lyft account thanks to the company's new open interface announced on Tuesday. The developer would handle everything: Hailing the ride, any customer responses during the ride and billing.

The Dispatch Developer Program will be run on Lyft's open API, or application program interface, which lets other developers create programs to run in concert with Lyft's app.

Lyft's new offering through its API will let startups arrange rides for senior citizens who might not have smartphones, or give car dealerships the ability to arrange rides for customers while their vehicles are in the shop, for example.

Lyft has let select partners run programs like this before, especially in non-emergency medical transportation. Now, any developer will be able to offer a similar service.

What a good time to get more people on Lyft!