Climate Impact Goals

https://blog.lyft.com/posts/2017/6/14/lyft-climate-impact-goals

by myroon5 • 9 years ago

87 30 9 years ago

blog.lyft.com

acabal• 9 years ago

Lofty goals, and needed. However I can't help but mourn that at least in Chicago, all of the taxis I've ever taken in the past several years have been hybrid vehicles. I think I can count on one hand the number of hybrids/electric Lyfts and Ubers I've taken. So in Chicago (like everywhere else) ridesharing is decimating the taxi industry, but here when you take a rideshare instead of a taxi there's a greater chance your ride is not climate-friendly today.

So while it's nice that Lyft is targeting 2025, in this specific case you could have already been saving carbon by taking regular taxis instead.

I don't know if Lyft/Uber already have a feature like this (someone else always calls one for us) but it would be nice if they allowed you to only take rides in hybrid/electric vehicles, or if they would otherwise incentivize drivers who had such vehicles.

3adawi• 9 years ago

Almost every Uber I've taken in London was a Prius, a hybrid car

nicolashahn• 9 years ago

In San Francisco it seems that about half of the ones I take are.

neuronexmachina• 9 years ago

When I requested an Uber for pickup from the Seattle airport's rideshare stop I saw a line of about 20 Priuses all in a row. In LA, from my sample size of several dozen Uber rides, I've seen roughly 50% hybrids.

passivepinetree• 9 years ago

AFAIK they don't allow a feature like this. If they implemented one, I would gladly use it (even if it cost slightly higher or came with worse availability). That would be an easy way to allow consumers to vote with their actions and support electric vehicles.

stouset• 9 years ago

I'm guessing it would cause a driver revolt, though.

acchow• 9 years ago

I would love an Uber/Lyft Green option. Happily vote with my wallet.

templaedhel• 9 years ago

Some cities (Paris off the top of my head) have "UberGreen" which is exactly this - You can elect to only take rides from hybrid or electric vehicles.

https://newsroom.uber.com/portugal/ubergreenen/

shanev• 9 years ago

UberX was initially hybrid cars only.

davedx2• 9 years ago

If you ever fly to Amsterdam, make sure you jump in one of the many white Tesla taxis at the airport. :)

andygates• 9 years ago

Well, taxis are regulated.

I'd be more impressed if this wasn't puffing future tech, and was instead committing to ratcheting efficiency requirements across their drivers' vehicles.

b1gnasty• 9 years ago

Hmm, is all you need is a pink-tinged blog post on long term climate goals to PR your way into convincing the world you aren't harming it?? It's pretty obvious that the current so-called "ridesharing" product is increasing CO2 emissions. But good on you Lyft for embracing that good-guy-stance. Keep it up

Ductapemaster• 9 years ago

What about ridesharing is "obviously" increasing emissions? I don't dispute the fact, but what evidence is this based on?

thesmallestcat• 9 years ago

Ridesharing companies compete with mass transit.

danjoc3• 9 years ago

Didn't lyft shut down their carpool commute feature, because nobody wanted that?

If you're "ride sharing" without actually stopping to pick up/drop off additional passengers, it's just a taxi. An unlimited, unregulated number of taxis. More cars on the road, fewer people on public transport, more pollution.

It's possible I misunderstand how these taxi companies work. I'm invisible to them. I don't have their apps. I'd rather they not track my movements every half minute for the government to subpoena, for a fee of course.

phinnaeus• 9 years ago

By 2025, Lyft’s shared platform will provide at least 1 billion rides per year using electric autonomous vehicles.

Wow. That seems lofty.

exacube• 9 years ago

lyft currently does like 200-250 million rides/yr [1] with a crazy trajectory. if we "conservatively" assume 40-50% average growth YOY in ridership

that's like 6 billion rides/yr by 2025.. which puts this estimate at 15% - 30% of rides being all-electric + autonomous.

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-27/lyft-book...

ChemicalWarfare• 9 years ago

greenhouse gasses' share in the atmosphere is about 2%. of that 2% CO2's share is about 4%. of that 4%, total antropogenic CO2 adds up to about 3%.

not sure what percentage of that 3% Lyft is responsible for but I'm guessing not enough to impact the climate in any meaningful manner :)

inimino2• 9 years ago

Now apply the same reasoning to every other company in every other polluting industry, and you see (or at least show) why we have a problem.

joshualross• 9 years ago

With Peter Thiel and Carl Icahn as both close Trump advisors and Lyft investors[1], I wonder if the damage done on one side will equal the benefit of these lofty climate goals on the other? As a concerned citizen, I applaud their effort, but I think companies like Tesla are doing far more to drive the conversion to electric cars. That being said, we need every company to do their part, so kudos Lyft!

[1] http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/31/technology/tech-travel-ban-p...

davedx2• 9 years ago

we need every company to do their part

Exactly. These days if I see any company making a significant climate pledge of some kind, I support them as fully as I can with my business.

gldalmaso• 9 years ago

Is Trump's bail form the Paris Agreement going to be his most positive legacy?

It seems like it has sparked a much bigger interest to double down on its goals by a lot of actors than it would otherwise have been if Trump just pretended to be on board.

A Streisand Effect for climate policy of sorts.

whazor• 9 years ago

I would prefer to see a bonus for drivers with less pollutant cars. It is easy and directly implementable.

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