Ridesharing company Lyft says it sees the
beginnings of a return to business travel.
Speaking on the company’s Q3 earnings call, chief
financial officer Brian Roberts said, “I'd say we're beginning to see an uptick
in business travel, but it's early. And we expect that this will become more
pronounced as more companies return to the office.”
His optimism about a return came, in part, from its
airport ride statistics. Roberts said “airport rides reached 8.5 percent of
total rideshare rides in Q3. And if you go back two years ago, airport rides
were 9.1 percent of total rides in Q3 of 2019. So while leisure has been
strong, we believe some of these airport rides [are] actually the beginning of
corporate travel.”
Roberts said that
many companies had postponed the return to the office until Q1 2022 following
the summer rise in Covid cases in the U.S.
“This is
pronounced in a city like San Francisco...San Francisco is only 40 percent
recovered,” he added. “I'm willing to bet San Francisco will regain its former
glory.”
Lyft’s Q3 revenues reached $864.4 million against $499.7
million in the third quarter of 2020, an increase of 73 percent year-over-year.
This compares to pre-Covid Q3 revenues of $955.6 million in 2019.
Despite the challenges of Covid, the company has
trimmed net losses to $71.5 million versus $459.5 million in 2020 and $463.5
million in 2019.
Increasing ride frequency by users drove the
company’s revenue per active rider figure to a record $45.13, helping it
achieve a second consecutive profitable quarter on an adjusted EBITDA basis.
The number of active riders increased to 18.9 million, up from a low of 8.7
million at the start of the pandemic.
Lyft’s co-founder and CEO Logan Green said, “We had
a great quarter. Driver supply materially improved in Q3, up nearly 45 percent
versus last year, reflecting strong new driver trends. We are well positioned
for a continued recovery and I’m excited to build on the momentum in our
business.”
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